


Brave Shine

by WolfInWonderland



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Accidental Mpreg, Alpha Noctis, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dragon AU, Implied Child Abuse, Implied miscarriage, Knotting, M/M, Omega Ignis, drug and confinement human experimentation, mate marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-05-01 04:08:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 85,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14512224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfInWonderland/pseuds/WolfInWonderland
Summary: Every dragon birth in all of Lucis was celebrated once the war ashes between Lucis and Nifilheim had settled and King Regis officially took the throne in Insomnia. The city of Insomnia rejoiced at the thought of a new generation free from war and took to the celebrations happily. It was a time of peace, and Regis was happy. Which was why he was so shocked when his advisor came barging into the throne room and interrupted a conversation the King was having with his Shield.“Your Majesty!” Regis had never seen his advisor breath so heavily. “There was a child found.”





	1. A New Insomnia

**Author's Note:**

> I've always loved dragon au's but I've never actually written one. Same with ABO stories. Thus I figure, let's kill two writing virginities at once and see how deep I can dig myself. Hopefully it's enjoyable to read because it's so far been fun to write. And please know that I plan on changing the rating when we get further into the story; I know explict stuff will be coming, I just don't know when or what kind.

Every dragon birth in all of Lucis was celebrated once the war ashes between Lucis and Nifilheim had settled and King Regis officially took the throne in Insomnia.

Regis’ peace keeping way of ruling allowed his people to relax after the war. Every dragon in all of Eos felt the toll of battle in some way or another and the King was determined to soothe the after effects of war by ruling his people with a kindness they haven’t seen in years. His kindness also strengthened the bonds between the different class systems that have been strained for those same years. For the first time in decades the Alpha, Beta, and Omega casts were free to council with whomever they wanted without the fear of repercussions that was established by the kings before. Alphas and alphas, betas and omegas, and every coupling in between could now be seen walking throughout Insomnia and as a few years passed the sweet scents of pregnant dragons wafted in the air. 

King Regis wanted to honor the new lives that were brought into an emerging world of peace and declared that each babe would be offered a blessing from the crystal for a long life under the new sun. The city of Insomnia rejoiced at the thought of a new generation free from war and took to the celebrations happily. Calls of congratulations were commonly heard in the streets whenever a pregnant dragon walked by and the grounds were constantly littered with flower petals that were showered over the happy couples.

And while the merrymaking never actually seemed to die down, the Crown City had never seen such a grandiose festival as the day prince Noctis was born. Insomnia had been waiting months for that moment ever since their King declared that his Queen was with child and the people could not be happier for their leaders. The entire Citadel grounds were open to the public for the first time as the Alpha King Regis and the Omega Queen Aulea celebrated with their people over their son’s birth. 

After Noctis was seen for the first time, the papers were printing no news about anything other than the prince. Even though just a newborn, Noctis was quick to transform from human babe to a hatchling and the news of the prince’s dragon form spread like wildfire. His body was already growing rapidly and his wings continued to strengthen much faster than the average baby’s, to the point that the Omega mother had to keep constant watch to make sure Noctis didn’t try to fly out of her arms or out of his crib. His body was the same midnight black as the tuffs of hair that were on his human head and his blue eyes continued to be just as radiant no matter which form he took.

Noctis was already showing physical signs of becoming another alpha king, and even though he would not actually present into his class until he was in his teens at earliest, the entire population was convinced of what he would grow into.

Regis, in all honesty, couldn’t care less what class his son presented as. The King was already as proud of an alpha father as he could be with having the perfect omega mate and a child he could cherish with all his heart. And the years watching Noctis grow from a baby to a young child were some of the best Regis could say he’d ever had. 

At the age of four, Noctis was the perfect image of a carefree and happy child with how he was able to play as he pleased and not have a care in the world as his mother watched over him with love. At the age of seven, Noctis ran throughout the Citadel in an attempt to avoid his caretakers with a game of chase and hide, and his father smiled in fondness as he pointed behind an oversized set of curtains with a finger over his mouth in order to help Noctis stay hidden. At the age of twelve, Noctis was practicing fighting with his shield-in-training in both sword handling and dragon maneuvering. 

At thirteen, Noctis was turning into every bit the teenager that he was, and his parents indulged in all of his complaints. How could Regis pretend to be angry with his son when Noctis’ biggest complaint concerned vegetables? When Regis was thirteen he was being trained for taking lives and had already seen a great deal of death before even leaving for a battlefield, so he couldn’t find it in himself to be upset at any tantrum the dragon prince threw. He made it so Noctis would never have the same bloodied childhood Regis had, so a missed lecture or an unclean plate were well worth the trade off.

It was a time of peace, and Regis was happy.

Which was why he was so shocked when his advisor came barging into the throne room and interrupted a conversation the King was having with his Shield.

“Your Majesty!” Regis had never seen his advisor Innes Scientia breath so heavily. “There was a child found.”

Regis and Clarus Amicitia quickly followed the brown haired man to the entrance of the Citadel where a large crowd of guards was standing in a tight circle. At the center of it all was Aulea, who was cradling a petite silver bodied dragon in her lap. 

She glanced up when her mate called her and cooed out a distressed sound.

“Regis,” she sounded close to tears, “he’s so hurt.”

The King kneeled next to his wife and looked over the dragon in her arms. He was so small, he couldn’t have been more than seven, eight at most, and his silver scales were glistening with still wet speckles of blood. His breathing was labored and kept hitching whenever his tail twitched in his sleep. His entire body emitted a scent of pain that was quickly soaking up the entire room.

Regis reached a tentative hand out to touch the boy’s head, but right at that moment the dragon shuddered violently and shifted forms. Where the silver body of a dragon had once been, now there was a lithe if underweight human body figure draped over Aulea. The boy was wearing ragged white clothing that barely covered his frame and Regis could see blooming bruises on his chest where his shirt was falling off. His dirty blond hair was matted with drying blood that still slightly flowed onto his pale face. 

The boy’s body was shivering, and with a few deep shuddering breaths he was weakly pushing against the Queen’s chest in order to sit himself up. A hush fell over the group as the boy continued to breath heavily until he placed a hand over his chest. With a hesitance that even made Regis nervous, the boy looked up into the face of the King.

His eyes were a shocking emerald green.

The two stared at each other for a moment and Regis felt his heart constrict. That…wasn’t normal, the alpha finally decided when he could think clearly again. He had only ever felt such a paternal caring over Noctis, but this boy instantly made him want to collect him into his arms and never let go. 

The protective instinct surprised the King immensely, but before he could dwell on the thought those green eyes that were staring so intently at him suddenly rolled up and the boy collapsed again.


	2. The Silver Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so excited to get this ball rolling, you cannot believe. I'm gonna try to keep to an every Friday posting schedule, so hopefully that goes according to plan.

Noctis prided himself on two things: his speed while he was in his dragon form and the knowledge that one day he would be able to warp circles around Gladio. For right now though, his Shield in training was kicking his butt.

Noctis oof-ed when he was knocked off his feet for the final time he could stand for the day and the sixteen year old Gladiolus laughed as Noctis remained on the floor.

“It’s not funny!” the prince said with exasperation as he continued to stare up at the ceiling of the Citadel training room, his arms spread out while his chest heaved to take in air. “You’re just older than me! That’s why you’re so much stronger.”

Gladio gave a last snicker in mirth but held out his hand to help Noctis up off the floor. “Well duh. And I’m going to be your Shield, so it’s kinda my job to be stronger than you.” He hoisted the smaller up onto his feet and pat his back. “You need years more training before you can ever even think of beating me, and once you turn fifteen we’ll be starting all over again with weapon training.”

Noctis scowled. “I can beat you up when we’re dragons.”

Gladio laughed. “You have speed on your side, Little Prince, but I still beat you in strength no matter what form we take.”

For what it was worth, and for what Noctis was willing to admit, Gladio’s boasting had some merit to it. Even though he was still just a teenager, Gladio’s dragon was already huge with muscle and natural bulk that Noctis doubted he would ever be able to match. With a flick of his tail, Gladio could knock a grown man three times his age right off his feet, and then crush him beneath a single clawed hand using his body weight alone. 

But while Gladio used his size to his advantage in combat, he could not move fast enough to avoid anything. And that’s the type of weakness that Noctis was not afraid to abuse his knowledge of. With Noctis’ sleek frame and long, increasingly powerful legs, he was able to zip around an area with the ease of the wind and he had no problem swerving between Gladio’s legs in order to trip him up. 

Gladio might have been able to crush a man with his hand, but there was little he could do when his charge was sitting atop his back and pinning him to the ground.

Noctis smirked as he remembered their last dragon training match. “Yeah, Big Guy? How about you put those words to the test.”

Gladio grinned and his eyes quickly flashed a glowing amber when a few sets of running footsteps passed in the halls. Gladio looked to the door and opened it to peek his head outside. Noctis followed and peered around the doorframe under the larger’s arm. 

Two beta men were running around the corner carrying varying medical items. Noctis saw a wad of bandages in the arms of one medic and a clear bag full of needles and vials being carried by the other. They were heading towards the medical ward that the Citadel used for minor training injuries and over fatigued staff members and were quietly whispering to themselves as they ran out of sight.

Before they were completely out of earshot though, Noctis heard one of them say something about meeting the King in one of the rooms.

It wasn’t often the staff would so openly talk about the King and Queen, and the last time the gossip was surrounding the infirmary, his mother had collapsed from the heat. 

Instantly, Noctis’ nerves were on edge and he slipped past Gladio and began to run after the medics. He heard Gladio call after him, but figured that his future shield could follow him too if he really wanted to make a big deal of it.

So Noct ran down the hallways and quickly made it to the med wards. There was a small crowd surrounding one room and Noctis was able to recognize Gladio’s alpha father Clarus, his father’s beta advisor, and the King and Queen.

“Mom! Dad!” Noctis yelled and his parents instantly turned to him. “What’s going on?”

Aulea quickly gathered Noct into her arms. His father looked down at him with a rare frown. “Noctis, what are you doing here?”

Before Noctis could say anything, the door opened and a doctor walked out. Regis quickly moved his attention onto the beta male. 

“How is he?”

The doctor rubbed the bridge of his nose with a weariness that Noctis has never seen on a person before. “He’s stable and will probably wake up sooner rather than the later time we originally thought. His body though…”

The man looked at each person who was standing around him, then back to the alpha King. Noctis’ father hesitated and looked down at Noctis before he took a breath and nodded at the unasked question. 

“His body is a complete mess.” Aulea’s breath hitched and held Noctis tighter within her arms. “He has extensive bruising all along his chest and back, as well as his arms and hips. There are both old and new scars over his stomach and lower back, and as far as I can tell he will probably have some internal trauma based on the bruising, but without any actual equipment or scans, I cannot be positive about it.”

The doctor looked away, then back to Regis. “As far as the bruising goes, they were most likely caused by an external factor, but the scars…there’s no proof to suggest that they aren’t self-inflicted, but, My King, they also match the size and shape of what would be left after rounds of surgery. Or testing.”

Noctis looked around at all the adults surrounding him, then glanced at Gladio who had silently made his way into the group while the doctor was talking. They shared a look of confusion, then stared at Noct’s father when he let out a harsh breath and rubbed a hand over his face.

The doctor quietly said it was fine for them to go in and repeated that whoever was in the room would wake up soon, then left quickly with a shake of his head.

Noctis had never seen his dad so pale, or really any of the people here shuffle so uncomfortably at the news the man brought. They were all in some state of upset, but his father was the only one who settled on a final image of anger.

Now that, that was a whole realm of new.

“Dad,” Noctis tried to call out hesitantly, “what’s-”

Suddenly, a loud beeping started up and the doctor ran back into the room. The remaining four adults looked at each other until a small screaming could be heard from behind the door. Immediately, Regis and Aulea entered the room and Clarus followed after them. Innes waited for a second, then went in too. Gladio and Noct were left in the hall and they weren’t sure what to do with themselves, but the small voice was pulling at Noctis’ heart and he couldn’t stop himself from following it.

He and Gladio entered the room awkwardly, but the sight that greeted them was one of the saddest Noctis has ever seen in his thirteen years of life.

The room itself was very large, enough to comfortably set four chairs around the center bed that was connected to a small heart monitor against the wall. And on that overly white and bleached out bed was a boy huddled into the topmost corner trying to make himself as small as possible and push himself as far away from the adults that were starting to surround the foot of his bed. The boy’s voice was soft but desperate, a plea that spoke volumes of his fear at being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people, but what caught Noctis’ attention the most were his green eyes.

Those eyes were so bright and glassy, almost on the verge of tears, but beneath the fear was a calculating look that was taking stock of all those around him. He was judging them, quickly making an assessment to try and figure out who they were and what they wanted, and when those eyes connected with Noct’s it was like the world slowed for a minute.

Noctis felt the way his heart instantly sped up and flew into his throat, and without any proper reason, Noctis prayed with all his heart that the other boy found him worthy of whatever he was looking for in them. Noctis felt that he needed to be one of the people this beautiful boy trusted, he was desperate for that acceptance, and hopefully if he passed he would be able to stay drowning in the boy’s eyes forever.

“Who are you?” the boy finally spoke. His eyes moved away from Noctis’, the prince made a small unconscious sound in the back of his throat, and traced over everyone else that was in the room again. Despite his previous fearful sounds and trembling, the boy’s voice was strong and powerful. 

And delightfully accented. Noctis had never heard anyone’s voice roll as beautifully as his before, and it made Noct want to curl up and soak in the sound for the rest of his life.

Regis held out his hands upward as he slowly approached the bed. “My name is Regis Lucis Caelum, we are in Lucis’ Insomnia, and a few of my staff found you collapsed at the entrance of our Citadel. You were…” the king hesitated and Noct can’t say that he can remember a time he’s seen that before, “injured, so we brought you to our medical ward.”

The boy’s eyes were still guarded, but his trembling had stopped somewhat. He glanced down and squinted at the bandages wrapped around his arms. 

“I don’t…remember being brought to Insomnia,” he finally said.

“Can you tell me the last thing you remember?” Regis asked. The boy’s eyes flickered to the rest of them and bit his lip. Regis followed his gaze and motioned to his Shield and Advisor to move out and guard the door. Clarus was weary, but nodded and grabbed Gladio’s wrist to follow them. Once the room was halved of its occupants, Noct’s mother quietly grabbed his hand and sat them down in the chairs that were furthest from the bed. Regis took the chair that was closest when the boy nodded his approval.

“I,” he started after taking a deep breath, “I don’t know too much about where I was before, but I think it was somewhere in Nifilheim. At least, that’s what some of the reports said.”

“Reports?” Regis asked, but the boy shook his head. “May I ask your name?”

The boy looked up into the King’s eyes. “Ignis, sir.”

“Ignis,” Regis smiled gently. “A powerful name. And how old are you, Ignis?”

“Fifteen, sir.”

Regis blinked in surprise and Noct saw him share a look with Aulea. 

Ignis also seemed to see the look and bunched in on himself to make him appear as small as possible again. Noctis didn’t like the sour scent of guilt that suddenly wafted through the room.

The alpha took notice of the smell too and fumbled with his hands, not sure if he was allowed to touch the boy or what to say to reassure him.

The queen on the other hand had no such qualms and quickly leapt to the side of Ignis’ bed. She knelt so that she could catch his downward eyes and smiled up at him.

“There, there,” she cooed and tried to push out a scent of motherly comfort. “There’s no need for guilt. We just—your dragon form was very small when we first saw you. So we assumed that you were a little younger.”

Ignis kept his eyes on the omega. “Isn’t that…the proper size I should be?”

Aulea opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Ignis pitched forward with a cry of pain. He grabbed at his chest, clawed at it with clipped fingernails all while crying out in anguish. Noct’s father stood up so quickly he tipped his chair backwards and Noct could only watch in shocked fear as Ignis’ form suddenly shifted from human to dragon. A small, silvery dragon who let out the most divine scent Noctis had ever smelled.

The king called out an order to bring back the doctor to Clarus and Aulea tried to shush the thrashing dragon, but none of her words seemed to reach him. 

Inside Noctis’ head there was a small voice that called to him, told him to comfort the pained dragon, so he walked up to the bed. His mother cast fearful eyes on him.

“Noctis, stay back.”

Her words were barely heard over the ringing in his ears and Noctis shifted into his own dragon then jumped on top of the bed. Even though he was apparently two years younger than the other, Noct’s noir body easily dwarfed the pearly silver one underneath him. He spread out his wings so that he completely covered the frightened dragon and used the training his mother taught him to extend his own scent of calm. He also pushed out his natural odor, despite knowing that he wouldn’t have much of a scent since he hadn’t presented yet, to hopefully at least distract the other from whatever pain he was in.

Ignis quieted a little at the comfort. It took a few minutes but his pained breathing was slowly replaced with light panting and Noctis’ chest rumbled in happiness. When he was sure Ignis had silenced completely, Noctis gave him a purr and looked up from the bed.

All the adults and Gladio were staring at him with wide eyes and surprised expressions. Noctis shifted uncomfortably at the attention now that he was back to being aware of more than Ignis, and the smaller dragon must have felt the shift as he tentatively peeked his head out from beneath Noct’s wing. He cleared his throat a little and gave a tiny whisper. 

“Can you please get off me? You are a little heavy.”

The prince immediately jumped off the other in mortification at the sound of his rumbled voice and transformed back into a human. 

Ignis shook himself off, almost imitating a dog in that moment, then changed too. His human face was overtaken by a blush that covered his cheeks and he lowered his head in an attempt to hide. And now that Noctis was searching for it, he noticed that the enticing scent that Ignis was giving off before was gone.

The doctor slowly walked closer to him. “Ignis…are you alright?”

Ignis glance up from beneath his bangs. “Yes, that—that sometimes happens when I get…stressed.”

“Is that something you’ve always dealt with in Nifilheim?”

Ignis looked up completely. “Nifilheim? Why would I have been in Nifilheim?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the story has officially started. This won't really come into play for at least another chapter, but do people want to see how Ignis and Noctis grow up? Like a full length chapter dedicated to just them being together and how they interact with people? I'm trying to plan ahead so that I don't fall behind, but I'm stuck between fleshing out their teenage years to basically having half a chapter highlight the more interesting things. I called this a slow burn, I just need to know how slow people are willing to put up with. If I do expand on them, I can promise that it'll be a chapter full of fluff and cute filler. I'll leave it up to the comments. 
> 
> Next time: Regis goes into King panic mode, Aulea goes omega and cannot handle anyone in this hospital anymore, and Noctis just wants to see Ignis' pretty eyes again


	3. Slowly Figuring Things Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect to see me so soon, huh? Writing has been going a little faster than I expected and I couldn't help but want to share the new chapter early. I can't guarantee that it'll always be more than one chapter a week, and I'll still post something on Friday, but let's see. Hope you enjoy!

Regis paced back and forth in his throne room under the watchful eyes of his Shield. The two were waiting for any news from Aulea and the King couldn’t hold still any longer. Clarus snorted.

“I know it’s your job to care about the people Regis, but can you stop for at least a second?”

Regis looked up and stood still. “Did you smell him, Clarus?”

His Shield glanced away. “Of course I did. Everyone nearby could.”

“Then you should be just as upset as I am.”

Ignis’ display in the medical ward warranted the doctor’s order to be sent to a proper hospital. He needed to be scanned for internal distress, possible external testing, psychological wellness, and amnesia. And those were just what they witnessed. Who knew what that poor boy had been through?

And his scent…

“He smelled like a presented omega,” Regis said to himself as he began pacing again. “But he’s too young to have presented.”

“It’s not consistent, Regis. He didn’t smell like one when we first brought him in.”

“That makes it worse!”

Male omegas hadn’t been seen since before the thirty-year war with Nifilheim: rare already, those presented were kidnapped from Lucis and Accordo and said to have been tested on and killed by Nifilheim scientists. There wasn’t any proof to connect the country to those crimes though, until a run away omega managed to make his way to Insomnia and pled his case to Regis’ father when Regis himself was barely fifteen. 

The man died shortly after, but his sacrifice was the trigger needed to start the war. 

He told a tale of how Nifilheim wanted to create their own omegas, create a black market until they had a monopoly of all omegas in Eos. Their Emperor wanted to become the sole ruler of the three countries, and he was willing to rebuild the world from the ashes of a war he created if he had to do it.

Although it took many years, through the combined efforts of his father, the Oracle, and their armies of their two countries, Nifilheim was defeated. Their population was reduced to less than half of what it originally was, their people were put under twenty-four hour surveillance to assure that no one could plot a takeover again, and their leaders killed in front of all of Eos to show that their ideals would not be tolerated.

Regis’ father, his Oracle, and even Clarus’ father died during the battle, but Regis had promised them all that he would not let anything of such a scale happen again under his rule. 

If Ignis really came from Nifilheim and he was made to be an artificial omega, then Regis was already breaking his oath.

“It might just have been his omega setting in. Some give off false scent presentations before the real thing,” Clarus offered to try and make Regis feel better. 

The King shrugged but didn’t stop his pacing. 

“And him coming from Nifilheim?”

“You said he only thought he was there?” Clarus raised an eyebrow. 

“Our immediate need to protect him without a scent? Aulea’s despair at his injuries?”

“Noctis sure acted like an alpha even though he hasn’t presented yet,” his Shield gave him a pointed stare.

“That’s—he’s a Lucis Caelum!” Regis’ reply was exasperated but weak to his own ears and he sat down heavily onto the throne.

Clarus walked up to his side and pat his shoulder. “And Ignis’ genes might be the perfect omega dragon. I know that Regis, my King, needs to worry about any possible threats to Lucis, but Regis, my friend, needs to sit down and relax for a minute. You’ve been running yourself ragged for fourteen years trying to spot any sign of Nifilheim activity, but my men haven’t reported anything. And your advisors are saying that the treaty between the three countries has never been stronger. When are you going to stop thinking that every rock in your path is trying to trip you?” Clarus paused, then smirked down at the king. “I know Aulea thinks your gray hair is sexy, but the rest of us think that you’re too young to look so old.”

Regis looked up into the eyes of his Shield and oldest friend. All he could see in that strong-willed gaze was determination; determination that his words were truth, determination to place his life on the line defending Regis it they weren’t, determination to hope for a world where Gladiolus Amicitia and Noctis Lucis Caelum would never have to face the same battles their parents did.

Regis softly chuckled and swiped the hand off his shoulder. “Who are you calling old, you behemoth? Just because your grays hinder your infamous Amicitia charm doesn’t mean that my hair isn’t adding to my appeal.”

Clarus sputtered in surprise as Regis smiled up at him. “A hundred Gil says that even Lily thinks I’m more attractive than you.”

“She would never!” the alpha Shield roared good-naturedly and made to grab Regis in a headlock.

The King easily avoided his grasp; seriously, the Amicitias are filled with dragons that have no speed whatsoever, and joyfully kept stepping away whenever Clarus got too close. 

It felt like the two haven’t been this carefree in years, and there’s no one around to see their King act so juvenile, so Regis allowed himself to bask in a bit of fun for the moment. 

The air was growing more electric as they ran throughout the throne room, and the two men were about three steps away from shedding their human forms and just running as dragons, when Regis’ phone went off. 

Immediately they both stopped where they stood and Regis took the call.

“Aulea?” he asked slightly out of breath.

His mate hesitated on the other side. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Regis said a little too quickly, suddenly embarrassed even though he knew she hadn’t seen him running like a teenager, “just went for a jog with Clarus.”

The line was silent for a minute before the omega giggled lightly. “Did you two make a bet again?”

“Possibly,” Regis said as a smile formed on his lips. He now felt foolish for being embarrassed: Aulea would never judge him for having some fun.

Clarus made a ‘hurry up’ motion with his hand.

“How’s Ignis?”

Aulea sighed. “The doctor said that he’s fine. There’s nothing internally wrong with his body or any trauma to have caused the sudden amnesia or his scent change. The psychologist can’t say that Ignis is intentionally hiding anything about his past or showing signs of repressing it either. He just…can’t remember some details from before he woke up in the Citadel. He can’t remember where he came from or his first home, but he remembers going to school, living in a new house with other children, small things. We think he’s an orphan, though. He doesn’t remember a thing about any parents, but spot on memory of the children he grew up with. But the therapist suggested that she continue with Ignis for a while, just to see if they can find anything more.”

Regis sighed just like his wife had. That news was…not exactly troubling, but not comforting in the slightest either. “And his scars?”

“Ignis had suggested that he remembered falling down a tree when he was younger, but the therapist hinted that way he said it wasn’t really convincing. Ignis also thought that he was, in his words, “a clumsy person”, and excused his more recent injuries to that.”

Regis scoffed under his breath. “I’m sure he’s pushing aside his bouts of omega scent with little concern too.”

“Well,” Aulea hesitated, “his explanation does match what the doctor said. No internal abnormalities would suggest that his body does react to stress very strongly. And being a male omega would put him for higher risk of outburst than normal. Not to say that those cases are typical either, but it would check out.” 

“So if there’s nothing medically we can do to help him, what can we actually do for him?” Regis ran a hand through his hair. 

With no home country known to send him back, and possibly no parents to reach out to, what were they supposed to do with Ignis? They couldn’t just…keep him. Regis was pretty sure that was somehow illegal against whatever guardian was originally looking after him. But, with how battered the teen was, Regis could call abuse and have the rights to take little Ignis in under his literal wing. 

Regis was practically certain that he and Aulea, possibly even Noctis, had all bonded with Ignis in some way. The king and queen were immediately overtaken by their parental instincts to care for the child when they first saw him, and Noctis had displayed an alpha instinct to protect someone they hold dear. Yes, Noct hadn’t presented yet, but the Lucis Caelum family line was filled with alpha firstborns, so much so that it was practically a given that Noctis would grow up to be one. Their natural instincts were closer to the surface than any other dragon, even in childhood pre-presentation, so Noctis might have been acting out on those alpha instincts that wouldn’t consciously appear for a few years. 

After all, Regis and Aulea had known they were bound to become mates when they were both just children themselves, younger than even Noctis.

At best it was a theory, at worst it’s an assumption, but no matter the case, Regis was not about to let Ignis be shipped off to Astrals knows where to never be heard from again. 

Aulea growled softly on her side of the phone and Regis’ attention was immediately back to her.

“Just…can you come to Insomnia Memorial? Right now? I think I might have…parent bonded with Ignis and I can’t stand the people at this hospital anymore. We can talk more when you get here.”

They always were thinking the same thing.

“I’ll be right there,” Regis promised his mate and hung up the phone at her thanks. 

The King looked at his Shield and nodded to the door. “We’re needed at the hospital.”

Clarus nodded and put back his look of intimidating Shield as he followed the king out the throne room.

***

Aulea stared at her phone as her mate ended the call and breathed out a heavy sigh. Noctis was asleep, pressed against her side on the bench they were sitting on and he let out his own unconscious sigh after her.

She was getting…impatient.

It was odd to think that, if the queen was being honest with herself. She was known for her patience and kindness throughout Lucis and was normally very calm despite any situation she was thrown in. 

Right now though, when she was forced to sit outside Ignis’ hospital room for the last four hours, she had reached her end. The pull in her chest had felt strange yet familiar; it was the same pull she had felt whenever she left Noctis’ side for too long after he was born, and even at his current age she felt that unease whenever they were apart for more than a day. Aulea knew this feeling of separation and anxiety well, however she had never felt it for anyone other than her own child.

So the fact that she was being called to Ignis’ side so strongly unsettled her at first, but she’d had four hours to get used to it. Now, she only thought about how she needed to see the child she had unwittingly parent bonded to and she needed to see him three and a half hours ago.

Aulea’s foot began softly tapping and she accidently growled when another beta nurse went into Ignis room. Again.

Astrals, this was infuriating. She was forbidden from going in while the doctor was there, but Innes Scientia was allowed to be because Ignis had asked him to.

Yes, the King’s Advisor was a beta, but she had been part of Regis team during the war too. She was capable of protecting her children!

Which was an irrational thought because Ignis wasn’t her child. The only time she had even held him was when she and Innes had found the boy as they were leaving the Citadel and she took Ignis in her arms while the man had run to collect her husband. 

Yes, Innes had technically touched him first when checking to see if the boy was still alive, but Aulea watched over him as he slept in her arms and-

It’s the omega thinking, Aulea thought to herself as she ran a hand over her face. The overprotectiveness had no place in this situation, not really. She had already gotten all the available information she could out of the doctors that had tended to Ignis, and she just had to wait while the second round of unofficial therapy was going on. 

They couldn’t move forward until they knew everything Ignis knew. But because of his sudden amnesia, there wasn’t enough to form a real plan with.

There would have to be talk of where they should start looking for Ignis’ guardian, what they should they do if those people couldn’t be found, what they should do if they are.

And Noctis. He had insisted on staying with Ignis when the other boy was sent here, and had practically thrown a fit when he was told that he couldn’t enter the room with him. Regis had said in the past that he thought Noctis was destined to become another alpha King, and if that was the case, did he already pre-bond with Ignis earlier? What about Ignis? If he was truly a perfect omega as the doctors theorized then did he also pre-bond with Noctis? Aulea was a perfect omega and she knew the signs of bonding very well, but she hadn’t seen any of those signs in Ignis yet.

All in all, this was a mess that couldn’t be solved by any one person. They had to pull together and create a solution that would work best for Ignis. And Noct, if her suspicions were true.

But they couldn’t do anything until they had all the information and-

“Aulea!”

The queen looked up as she heard her name. Regis was quickly walking towards her with Clarus at his heels.

Astrals bless her mate’s timing for saving her from thinking in circles again.

Noctis was jostled when she shifted in place and he rubbed his eyes tiredly as he sat up properly. 

She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was getting close to midnight and Noctis should have been in bed hours ago. 

“Rest, my dear. We’ll be going home soon,” she whispered to him as she got to her feet and carded her fingers through her son’s hair. 

Noctis shook his head to try and wake himself up. “No. Not until I can see Ignis.”

Aulea sent a look to her alpha when he chuckled at the display. 

“Your mother’s right, Noctis. I’ll go speak with the doctor to see what their final diagnosis is, then we’ll have to return home for the night. We need to let Ignis rest too.”

Clarus nodded in agreement but looked around the hallway. “Where’s Gladiolus?” he asked.

“He offered to go get us some water a few minutes ago; he should be back any second now. That boy also needs to go get some rest too, Clarus. The poor thing looks dead on his feet,” Aulea told him. 

The sixteen-year-old had tried his hardest to perform like the prince’s Shield, but after a day of schoolwork, training, and following them to wait in a hospital, the teen dragon could barely keep his eyes open as he stood watch. He most likely offered to go get water just so he could move around and wake up a bit.

Clarus smiled fondly in amusement for a second, probably thinking along the same lines as she was, but his face quickly returned to neutral stoicism. 

Aulea returned her focus on Regis when she noticed that he was staring at the door they were unofficially guarding and she nudged his shoulder lightly.

Regis shook his head much like Noctis had and smiled down at her. “Let me go in and see what’s-”

Before he could finish, the door swung open and the therapist walked out. She could faintly hear Innes still talking inside in a hushed tone.

The beta female looked startled when she saw that the King was waiting with everyone, but quickly masked it. 

“Your Majesty,” she bowed. Pleasantries dictated that Regis nod back to her, but the sudden tension that flared didn’t hide everyone’s desire to get to the point.

The therapist thankfully agreed. “Ignis seems to be doing fine, mentally. His memories are fairly complete, so long as we ignore the most important whos and wheres, and nothing suggests that he grew up…abnormally.” Aulea could feel Regis arm tense against hers. “But he’s also not showing any signs of responding to my prompts to recall the missing details, so there’s not much I can do for him there. I do, however, have a suspicion that his concept of time, of at least the last few weeks at minimum, has been lost.” She crossed her arms and looked back into the room. “Or altered.”

Aulea let out a long breath quietly and jumped when she felt Noctis grab her hand. She looked down at his worried eyes and tried to give him a smile. Astrals, he was only thirteen. Should he be listening to all this?

She sat back down to gather her son in her arms and Regis ploughed on ahead.

“What gives you that suggestion?”

The beta woman turned back to the group. “I spoke quickly with the doctor in charge of his check up and read over his reports. While some bruising and scarring can be considered normal for a boy his age, there’s too many old scars to not raise flags and his bruises are too large to not have left internal trauma if they were obtained in a one hit accident. They would need to be deliberate to appear how they are now. And his medical results suggest that his healing rate to obtain the oldest looking scar would be four weeks minimum, and his newest bruise would have come about twenty-four hours ago. 

“If he was -let’s say- removed from his home a month ago and forced to undergo…physical coercion…of some kind, he could have developed a mental barrier to protect himself and erased all memories from that time. Possibly even of the people and places involved if they were part of his early life.”

Aulea stroked Noctis’ hair rhythmically to keep her emotions in check and she would try to remember and later thank the other woman for keeping the worse of her theory details to herself. 

If Ignis was kidnapped and abused for a month at minimum he would of course try and protect himself by erasing his own memories. It made sense in a heartbreaking kind of way. And male omegas were still considered the rarest caste even after fourteen years from the war; there could very easily still be sick people who fetishized their existence and were willing to take advantage of a defenseless teen. It made sense. In a disgustingly ungodly kind of way.

Aulea lowered her face into Noct’s hair.

The hallway was silent for a moment as everyone stewed in their own thoughts. 

Regis was the one to break the silence but he couldn’t fully keep the rage out of his voice.

“And the fact he was found at the Citadel? Why would anyone want to leave him there?”

The woman shrugged. “Possibly someone who found him and tried to get him away? A change of consciousness but fear of repercussions? I can’t help too much with crime theorizing aside from what can be supported by medical analysis.”

The beta moved her gaze over each of the adults quickly. “If I may, your Highness; it is in Ignis’ best interests to be keep out of the public eye for as long as possible. Whether my theories are founded or not, there is still no evidence of who abandoned him or where they have gone. And we also don’t know if they will try to come back for him. There is no need to keep Ignis here any longer, but I implore you to have him under guard, at least until we can find more information.”

“Excuse me, your Highness.”

Everyone turned to look at Innes, who had left the room carrying a sleeping Ignis in his arms and spoken up. There was a slight blush on the Advisor’s cheeks as he became the primary focus, but he stood tall despite the weight he was holding.

Noctis made a pained sound and leapt up from the bench. He ignored everyone else and immediately went to touch Ignis’ limp hand. 

“If I may make a suggestion?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How'd people like mommy Aulea's and daddy Regis' points of view? My main hope for this story is that when I move around different characters' POVs that I can distinguish their voices from everyone else's. I'm not sure how well I can pull it off, but hopefully it comes across, especially in later chapters when things start to jump around a bit. Oh well. Please let me know if things ever get too confusing and I might just separate them into shorter chapters that only have one character focus. Again, it really won't be seen until later, but I like to give as much preparation as possible.
> 
> Next chapter: Noctis and Ignis need to adjust a little to each other and Noctis gets a bit emotional over his first, possible, real friend


	4. Quickly Adjusting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. In this chapter, Noctis is 13 and Ignis is 15, and they've only been together for about a week. These boys are so awkwardly cute, I can't even.

“Ignisssss!”

“Oof!”

Noctis ran straight into Ignis’ back when he saw the older teen walking away from down the hall. Did Noctis mean to collide with him? No. Was he enjoying the subtle scent coming off Ignis’ body as his face was pressed right up against the taller’s shoulder? Yes.

That didn’t mean he should still be clinging to him, though. Probably. Right? Right.

Ignis had stumbled a little when Noct accidently accosted him, but still looked over his shoulder and smiled down at Noctis as the prince hastily stepped out of his personal space. Once given a proper amount of breathing room, Ignis turned to fully face the younger.

For all the enthusiasm Noctis showed, it was instantly replaced with embarrassment at realizing that other people were still walking around them.

“How can I help you, your Highness?” Ignis asked in that beautiful voice Noctis instantly fell in love with five days ago.

But for as much as he loved Ignis’ voice, he didn’t like the way he used Noct’s title whenever he addressed him.

Noctis scrunched up his nose. “I’ve told you before, Ignis. No Highness.”

Ignis’ smile became softer. “I’m sorry, Highness. Force of habit.”

The prince sighed and resigned himself for another day of titles. He’d just have to try and change the other’s mind tomorrow.

Ignis tilted his head. “I’m sorry to repeat myself, but can I help you with something? I need to start returning to my studies soon, Highness.”

Noct shook his head to clear his thoughts and bring them back to the present. Yeah, he practically bowled over Ignis in his excitement of seeing him for the first time today, but he forgot that Ignis was actually going somewhere before Noct saw him. 

He hung his head. “No. I was just happy to see you.”

Ignis huffed a bit in what sounded suspiciously like laughter, but when Noct glanced up his face was still in his neutral smile. 

“I still have a few minutes before my class starts and I think I saw in your schedule that your own begins around the same time. Would you mind if I walked with you to your classroom?”

Noctis immediately nodded enthusiastically and Ignis really did laugh this time.

“Let’s be on our way then.”

The two started walking together after that, Ignis just slightly behind Noctis to allow them to walk as side by side as possible and not take up the too much space in the hallway, and Noctis was over the moon. He not only got to see Ignis again when he was told that they would probably miss each other because of their schedules, but now he got to walk so close to and so long with the other boy that he’d have his scent burned into his nose for the rest of the day.

The only thing that could make this moment better, Noctis thought to himself, was if he…

Noctis glanced down at Ignis’ hand, then looked pointedly away. 

He hadn’t been able to hold the other dragon’s hand since that first night in the hospital about a week ago and Noctis itched to be able to grab the delicate thing again. He remembered how long those fingers were compared to his, how small the overall palm was despite Ignis being two years older than him, how right it felt when Noctis secretly linked their fingers together when no one was paying attention to him. 

How cold Ignis felt from just that small area of his skin against Noctis’.

Noct just wanted to replace his last memory with one where Ignis was awake and able to, hopefully, enjoy the feeling as much as Noctis had.

But before the prince could think any more of it, Ignis cleared his throat.

“We’re here, Highness.”

Noctis jumped when he realized that he was standing right outside the Citadel classroom wing without noticing it. “I-yeah. Thank you, Ignis. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

Ignis nodded and his green eyes practically sparkled as he looked at Noctis. “I noticed. Please make sure that you pay a little more attention during your studies.” 

The two were quiet as they looked at each other for a few moments, and, shockingly, Ignis glanced away first with a cough. “I…don’t think I’ll be able to see you again today. Or tomorrow, either, as Mr. Scientia has scheduled me to meet with a few people throughout the day. But…after that is Saturday and I don’t have anything planned for more then studying, so…would you mind if I came to watch your training session with Gladiolus?”

Noctis’ mouth was open in surprise. He hadn’t heard Ignis sound so hesitant, ever, and to think that the older teen was what? Embarrassed? Scared? Of asking Noct if he could watch him spar?

The prince’s brain had short-circuited while keeping his face frozen in shock and Ignis’ cheeks began to steadily grow red. 

“It’s fine if you don’t want me there!” Ignis tried to backtrack. “I know we haven’t known each other for long and I…but I guess that can be considered rude when speaking to royalty. I’m sorry if I was out of place-”

Ignis was beginning to ramble, and as cute as Noctis found it to be, he was still dealing with his own mental breakdown and couldn’t handle Ignis’ as well.

“Yes! Saturday’s fine!” Noct finally yelled out and Ignis stopped talking mid word. They both had a magnificent blush coating their faces, and they became worse once they realized that a few of the palace workers had stopped to stare at them. 

Ignis looked down and his bangs covered his eyes, but he surprisingly had a small smile still on his face. 

Noct covered his own face with both of his hands.

“Please come watch me spar on Saturday,” Noctis mumbled into his palms and somehow found the courage to peek through his fingers to look at Ignis. 

Ignis covered his mouth with a hand but glanced at Noctis too. He nodded, whispered a quick ‘Thank you, Highness’, and all but ran away to where his class was supposed to be. 

Noctis watched him until he couldn’t see Ignis’ form anymore with a sinking heart, then hurried inside the room where his tutor was waiting for him and slumped down in a chair with the longest sigh he had ever moaned out in his life.

This is why he didn’t have friends his age: he drove them away with his awkwardness!

Noctis moaned again and, despite telling Ignis he would concentrate in class, all he could think about was how he might have managed to drive away his newest friend in the fastest time in history.

***

That Friday was the slowest day of Noctis’ life. Period.

He basically had the day off since his tutor cancelled after yesterday’s disaster of a session and told him to have a long weekend to clear his head, and Gladio had already rescheduled their disaster causing training for tomorrow. 

And he couldn’t see Ignis because…how could he face Ignis again so soon…Noct would rather jump off the Citadel then risk…

Ignis was busy.

Noctis buried his face in his pillow and let out a good yell.

Ignis really was busy. Really. 

That night five days ago at the hospital, Innes Scientia had asked Noctis’ father for permission to care for Ignis at the Citadel because, in his words, ‘I think Ignis bonded to me because my scent was the first to touch him.’ Mr. Scientia agreed to move back into the palace housing in order to still be able to do his job as King’s Advisor, but also to keep Ignis safe within the castle walls with all of their security and opportunities it provided. The King accepted.

Noctis didn’t understand everything the psychiatrist had said to them that night, but he did follow that Ignis needed to be kept safe because of the possibilities that someone might be after him. The same someone who had left him so injured within the palace entrance.

Noct still saw red whenever he thought about someone wanting to hurt Ignis, to the point where the dirty blond haired dragon had to forget his own memories, and his heart hurt the more he learned about him.

Ignis was so smart. He shadowed Mr. Scientia throughout his first day at the Citadel and was drawn to all the books that were inside his office. The elder dragon apparently gave him free roam of his office while he was away for a meeting and by the time he came back, Ignis was already more than halfway through the collection and had taken notes on everything he learned. 

By the next morning Ignis was tentatively enrolled in two high school courses but by lunch they had already transferred him to a full elitist curriculum. Ignis just soaked up information like it was his air and he looked so excited throughout it all.

Noctis knew because he had been secretly watching him from behind any corner he could find whenever he saw the other boy. And, honestly, Noctis felt no shame in doing it.

He could admit, however, that even he thought it was strange just how strongly he was drawn to Ignis. The two hadn’t even officially talked for Astrals sake. It wasn’t normal how much Noctis needed to see Ignis everyday, make sure he was safe and happy with Mr. Scientia, maybe even catch the smallest hint of whatever Ignis had smelt like when he literally forced Noctis into his dragon form to calm him. 

And while that last thought was more of wishful thinking, Noctis did manage to sneak in a few breaths of Ignis’ natural scent when he passed by the prince’s hiding spot once, and from then on Noctis wasn’t willing to keep hiding anymore.

Luckily, his parents apparently wanted to see Ignis as much as he did and they invited Mr. Scientia and Ignis to their family dinner on the third night Ignis was there. It was awkward and Ignis remained quiet through most of it, but Noct’s mom was always good at getting people to relax around her and soon she was able to get Ignis talking about his studies and the classes he was taking and from there Ignis was offered to have dinner with them every night.

Then yesterday happened and he may have single handedly ruined all he had built up with Ignis by being too awkward to function. 

Noctis screamed into his pillow and wallowed in his memories.

***

Gladio was rolling around on the floor laughing when Noctis told him what happened. The older dragon was pounding his fist on the ground, his laughter was so intense, and Noctis just watched him with a scowl on his face.

After a good few solid minutes, Gladio was finally able to pull himself together enough to at least sit up. He still had a massive grin on his face though and Noct was not amused. 

“It’s not that funny,” the prince mumbled as his unofficial Shield got off the floor. 

“Nah, it’s freaking hilarious,” the teen choked out between a few giggles, but strongly clapped his charge on the back when he saw that Noctis wasn’t having it. 

“So you’re a little star struck with the new dragon and got tongue-tied when talking to him. It’s nothing that you haven’t gone through with a bunch of other kids before.”

“And they all left!” Noctis yelled, rounding on Gladio and poking his chest harshly as the other’s eyes widened. “I make a friend, I mess it up, they don’t see me as the perfect crown prince, and they leave. That’s how it always goes!”

Gladio’s face grew stern the more Noctis ranted, but the prince didn’t care. It was the truth. 

Sure, each case was a little different, but in the end that’s what they all boiled down to. He couldn’t keep any of his childhood friends because he couldn’t be the picturesque image of what a prince should be. And now, he’d messed up in front if Ignis too. 

There’s no way Ignis would still come to see him. He had all of yesterday to realize that Noct wasn’t worth anything because he wasn’t ideal and now he didn’t want to ever see Noct again. 

Tears were starting to prick at the corner of Noctis’ eyes and he scrubbed at his face angrily. 

Gladio grabbed his shoulder.

“Noctis, look at me,” he commanded the Shield voice he had been practicing. Noctis shook his head but Gladio tightened his grip. “Look at me.”

Noctis hesitated, but finally glanced up into Gladio’s concerned amber eyes.

“Those kids who left you, they weren’t really your friends, Noctis. No friend would leave just because you said something dumb or looked stupid. Those kids…I’m glad they left, because it means that you won’t ever be hurt when they inevitably used you for their own gain. Those types of people don’t care about you as a person, Noctis; they only wanted the things you could give them. And if they left on their own because you stumbled a bit, well, that makes my job easier because now I don’t have to worry about any snakes trying to harm you.”

Gladio gently tapped his finger against Noct’s chest, right over his heart.

“I don’t have to worry about anybody striking you here. I may be your Shield when you grow up, but I can’t block attacks against your heart when you’ve already let them so close.”

Noctis let a few tears fall as he stared at Gladio. “But they knew me for so long and still left the second I didn’t look like a prince. If I couldn’t make them like me in that time, how could I have ever gotten Ignis to like me in just a few days?”

Gladio’s scowl softened and his eyes warmed a tiny bit.

“It’s not about making people like you, Noct,” he said softly, which surprised Noctis because he never thought that Gladio could do anything gently. “When someone becomes your friend, it’s because they like you for you. Not because you made them like you with force. If Ignis is really meant to become your friend, or if you really think that you guys already became friends in the week that you’ve known each other, then he won’t care about how embarrassing you can be. He’ll prove to you that he wants to be with you just as you’ll have to prove to him that you want to be with him. It’s about equality, Noct, not one person trying to be something for the other.”

Noctis wiped away the tear tracks and gave Gladio a watery smile. 

The older dragon beamed back at him. 

“So…you good now? I’d never thought that I’d be giving a big brother speech to anyone but Iris, so I’m kinda out of material to say now.”

Noctis punched at Gladio’s shoulder as the other laughed. 

“Don’t come at me with that big brother thing. I know for a fact that you like being my Shield way too much to be my older brother.”

“Doesn’t mean that I can’t be your friend, though.” Gladio ruffled Noctis’ hair and Noct sputtered in disbelief. 

“Stop saying embarrassing stuff like that!” Noctis said, but the inside of his heart was warming with happiness.

The two were a few seconds away from transforming and going straight into dragon training when they heard a pair of footsteps running outside the practice room. The door was thrown open and Ignis ran in. When he saw that they hadn’t started yet, he sighed and leaned over to put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. 

When he was able to breathe somewhat normally again, he looked up and Noctis’ eyes widened. 

Ignis’ emerald eyes were covered by a pair of wired spectacles that sat perfectly on his nose. They looked…really good on him…even if they did slightly block how brilliantly his eyes could shine.

Ignis’ eyes also widened when he saw Noctis.

“Your Highness, are you alright?” Ignis made his way closer and hesitantly put his hand on Noct’s shoulder. “Your eyes are a bit red. What happened?”

Ignis looked so genuinely concerned that Noctis felt like crying again. No one besides his parents had ever looked at him with that much intensity before.

Noct shook his head. “I’m fine. Just got something in my eye. But, you got glasses…They look good on you.”

Ignis blushed and looked away slightly. “They’re, ah, for reading. I never knew that my eyes were considered less than optimal before, and Mr. Scientia took me to see a professional yesterday because he noticed that I was squinting a lot at my books.”

With his head turned, Ignis acknowledged Gladio.

“Ah, hello Mr. Amicitia. I remember you from…we never got to properly introduce ourselves last time.”

Gladio balked at Ignis’ attempt to be proper and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, it was kinda a crazy few hours. Gladiolus Amicitia. Gladio is just fine though.”

Ignis held out his hand and Gladio reached for it. “Ignis Scientia.”

Gladio stopped before he could touch Ignis’ hand and Noctis just blinked owlishly.

Ignis looked confused until he realized what he said and flinched. “Sorry, just Ignis. I’ve been working with Mr. Scientia so much recently and have been constantly surrounded by his name that I just-”

Noctis stopped Ignis’ ranting before he could get too far. “Ignis Scientia has a nice ring to it. It suits you.”

Ignis bit his bottom lip, looking unsure if Noctis was telling the truth, but a sudden scent of absolute happiness wafted through the room. It took all of Noct’s willpower not to stagger closer to Ignis to better bask in the smell.

Gladio’s eyes widened comically as he stared between Ignis and Noct before he cleared his throat suddenly. 

“Yeah, Scientia works well for you. Maybe you can even become Noct’s advisor too if you’re using the name.” Gladio laughed awkwardly while looking at everything except them. Noctis stiffened at that idea but Ignis suddenly looked very thoughtful. 

How had the conversation taken this much of a turn?

***

The rest of training passed quickly after that. Or really, Gladio was so distracted by something that Noctis was able to down him in record time and the older had ended the day after the third time Noctis pinned him to the floor. 

Ignis clapped lightly when they were finished and told Noctis that he was impressed by the two of them as Gladio excused himself and left the room. Ignis also confessed that he was thinking of learning gymnastics from some of the trainers there, which was one of the reasons he had originally asked to watch.

Noctis prodded, but Ignis refused to tell him the other reason. The prince would normally be upset by the secrecy, but the blush on Ignis’ face as he refused was good enough for Noct.

The remaining two parted in separate directions; Ignis said that he needed to go back to studying and Noctis wanted to meet up with his parents before dinner. But instead of feeling sad at watching Ignis go like he had the previous day, Noctis was comforted in the fact that he hadn’t lost Ignis like he had feared and wasn’t willing to test him by acting clingy.

So Noctis, with a spring in his step, went to find his parents.

Ignis his advisor, huh? He thought to himself as he walked through the Citadel. It wasn’t a bad idea; it would mean that Ignis would always have a reason to be around Noct, but that would also mean that the silver dragon would be working for him. That kinda took the friendship aspect out of their relationship if Noct became Ignis’ boss.

Not like that had stopped Gladio from saying they were friends, his mind supplied helpfully and his cheeks burned again. Maybe it was possible…

As Noctis finally made it to the throne room doors and was about to knock for entrance, he heard voices coming from the inside.

The black dragon couldn’t help himself and he glanced around for anyone passing by before he pressed his ear against the wooden door.

“He’s progressing remarkably well,” the voice of Innes Scientia could be heard. 

“His tutors are all impressed with how fast he is learning. But they have been saying some…concerning things,” his dad’s tone was fond in the beginning, but turned troubled near the end.

“They’ve told me as well. And I can unfortunately attest to their claims. He doesn’t seem to have any control over his scent release, and also no perception that he is even releasing. His pheromones are undoubtedly that of an omega, but they are so inconsistent that I don’t believe he has presented yet.”

There was a sigh from Regis. “Can we put him on suppressants?”

“No. If he hasn’t presented then they will cause him unnecessary harm and may interfere when his time actually comes.”

“We can’t have an unsuppressed omega in the palace, Innes. There are too many alphas that could take advantage of him. Even if they are on their own suppressants.”

“Do you think his Highness’ scent is strong enough to cover him?”

“What do you mean?”

“If Ignis can constantly be around his Highness, to the point where he soaks up your son’s natural scent into his skin, that might be enough to allow him to roam around the Citadel freely. No dragon, presented or not, would test your wrath by trying to intimidate him. And when Noctis presents, his possible alpha pheromones would be enough of a deterrent to warrant Ignis absolute freedom. Future training will be needed, of course, but he might be able to grow strong enough to wander Insomnia and create a life of his own here.”

“And how would you suggest Ignis be around Noctis for as long as it’ll be needed to kick start all this?”

Noctis could hear the Advisor clear his throat softly. 

“I suggest that Ignis be made into Noctis’ future advisor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little tidbit about this story: I was inspired by a request prompt that I had seen on FFXVKinkMeme and created a story going forward from that point. But when I started drafting it, I figured that since it was going to be this Dragon AU that I should put in a little background before I got there. As of right now, we are not even halfway to where my original story was supposed to start. And this whole world setup and figuring out how to incorporate canon facts organically all stems from my need to have them start off older than when they originally met in the game. So basically, this monster project is all because I set up Noctis and Ignis to be 13 and 15 instead of 5 and 7. So you can thank my inability to write good timeskips for all this extra story. 
> 
> Next time: Ignis recaps what happens as he and Noct age from 13/15 to 17/19.


	5. Getting to Where We Need to Go (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not very good at this only post on Fridays, huh? Okay, so this chapter kinda got away from me and became the unofficial filler information chapter, so I'm sorry for the possible confusion of it. I'll put a brief summary at the end with the most important info of the chapter, but if you read through this whole crazy thing, then please remember that Noctis and Ignis are two years apart, Ignis and Gladio are one year apart, and Prompto and Noctis are the same age. I put one (*) whenever the scene goes up a year, so hopefully that helps? I'll see you in the end notes.

When Ignis first realized that he could not remember where he came from or who he officially was, he had broken down. He had awoken in a strange new place, surrounded by strange people who kept asking him unending questions that he had no answers for, and he had no idea if he would ever be able to return to his home, wherever it may be, again. And when he found out that the royal family of Lucis themselves were the ones who had found and taken him in, he felt even worse.

Who was he to the King and Queen? Just a lowly dragon who had nothing but his name and a few scattered memories to define himself. 

And while he vaguely knew about the dragon caste system and knew that he occasionally gave off a strong omega scent, that wasn’t a good enough reason for why the alpha dragon Regis and omega dragon Aulea to show him as much care as they did. 

He was given a home with Mr. Scientia. The man who, after accepting his unreasonable and confusing request the first night to stay with him at the hospital, Ignis unconsciously took to as a father figure. And not only was that home in the palace of the capital of Lucis, but it came with the condition that he share meals with the royal family daily as well. 

Ignis went from fearing for his life to having the world at his fingertips, so he was content to live out each day as the elder dragons in his new life saw fit to give him and made sure to never ask for anything more.

Until that day when he asked Noctis to join him in his sparring session just because he wanted to see the prince’s dragon again. He couldn’t get that looming bulk and protective figure out of his head for the life of him, and Ignis just wanted to have one more look at him. He would be content if he could have just one more chance to see him.

Ignis never expected to become prince Noctis Lucis Caelum’s future Advisor, didn’t even bother to hope for it when Gladiolus had first dropped the idea into his head, but that didn’t mean he hesitated for even a second when he was asked if he wanted the position.

Mr. Scientia had pulled him aside before his lecture a few days after he first watched the prince and his Shield in the training room and had inquired Ignis about his thoughts on taking the job. A job that, Ignis had discovered as he did a bit of research when the suggestion was merely a thought in his head, was highly coveted and highly competitive. 

It turned out that the crown had already been searching for someone of Noct’s age to fill the role of advisor for a few years, but everyone they found had quit early on in their training because the workload was too difficult for a child to handle. 

That, or they were dismissed when it was found out they were planning on using the position as a chance to abuse their power and that of the royal family’s. Ignis had never gotten so irrationally angry so fast as when he read those cases.

No one should ever take advantage of the prince, especially by pretending to care about him.

Mr. Scientia told him that he would still have to take the qualifications exam to prove he was smart enough to fulfill the duties, but had assured him that he fully believed that Ignis was more than qualified and that the role was as good as his if he wanted it.

And Ignis realized that he did want it. He wanted to unconditionally devote himself to the prince and the royal family that had already done so much to help him. 

He said as much to Mr. Scientia, took the surprisingly easy exam after a few months’ worth of studying day and night, and Ignis was accepted as the new Royal Advisor to the prince.

***

The King and Queen were always willing to help Ignis with whatever he needed since the moment they took him in after his night in the hospital all those months ago, and had insisted that he spend at least dinner every night with them so that they could, in their words, soak in their fill of his presence, but once he began his Advisor training Ignis was forever thankful for their presence in his life.

He was expected to be by the prince’s side almost constantly, morning, noon, and night. He was to escort the thirteen-year-old dragon to his classes every day after having breakfast with the royal family and Mr. Scientia, fulfill his own studies that had increased to include his unofficial adoptive father’s tutorings in what an Advisor needed to do for their future King, collect Noctis and take him to his training session with Gladiolus and practice Ignis’ own gymnastics instruction to prepare for the official Crownsguard training he would have to take part in eventually, return the prince to his room and help him with any homework or lessons the younger might have, then finally finish the day at dinner with his full unofficial adoptive royal family and Mr. Scientia. 

Ignis was also told that he would soon start sitting in on meetings to get a feel for the political world that he would have to coach Noctis in later.

Ignis could see why so many previous children had given up on this job, as it demanded a person devote their entire self to serving the prince, but with the support of all the dragons that had taken him in that first night, Ignis found that he thoroughly enjoyed the workload and all the opportunities he had to learn from the best tutors in Insomnia along with training his dragon to become stronger. 

All the time he got to spend with Noctis didn’t hurt either.

Ignis couldn’t place the reason behind why his chest always felt too tight whenever he wasn’t around Noctis for too long, or how come his mind always seemed to clear the moment he was able to breath in Noctis’ natural scent, small as it may be. The two also had a few chances to workout together when Gladiolus wasn’t available to coach the prince, and Ignis learned that they had a natural ability to fight together.

Ignis’ dragon form was still comparatively smaller than Noctis’; a fact that the prince would always preen at whenever mentioned, and the black dragon’s still growing body would commonly be seen blanketing Ignis’ tinier silver one on top of the padded mats they sparred on. 

However, Ignis was faster than Noctis.

So long as he could stay free from the cage of the prince’s body, Ignis could run circles around Noctis and out maneuver him with his speed and stamina, until the larger dragon would eventually tire out and Ignis would be able to pin him to the floor instead. 

Noctis did have some speed though, along with years worth more training than Ignis, so the winner of the match would normally be whoever made a better first move.

Six months passed this way; with days filled to the brim with never-ending work that needed to be seen to and practices that left his body feeling sore and battered, but they were the fastest six months of Ignis’ life.

*

The end of the year came and went, along with Ignis’ sixteenth birthday, then the end of Noctis’ studies at the Citadel, and after that the summer break he had afterwards, until finally the prince began his new educational life in a public high school. 

Ignis was still not allowed to leave the palace unless accompanied by an older dragon, so his duties finally shifted from escorting the prince around the Citadel to attending meetings for him, and Gladiolus had been delegated the task of driving Noctis to and from school. 

If Ignis was honest with himself, he missed being able to constantly be around the younger prince throughout the entirety of his day, but he compensated by throwing himself into completing his work as best as he could.

And when Noctis was too tired to do homework with Ignis during the nights, the older teen began teaching himself the art of cooking in his spare time.

With his newfound hobby, Ignis was able to bake a cake for Noctis’ fourteenth birthday. And when the raven-haired dragon’s eyes grew large as he was told that he was the one who made the delicious pastry, Ignis promised himself that he would learn how to make all of Noctis’ favorite foods by the end of the year.

Which, as Ignis checked his calendar one morning when he was thinking about it, was coming up very soon. The first half of Noctis’ freshman year was going by so quickly and without any notable excitement that Ignis was prepared to end the year with some peace and quiet. 

That was, until Gladiolus had called Ignis one crisp fall morning and begged him to take care of Noctis because the seventeen-year-old Shield had presented as an alpha and entered into his first rut.

As flattered as Ignis was that the Shield trusted him to protect the prince, there wasn’t much that Ignis could really do in that situation. Yes, Mr. Scientia had given him driving lessons and he legally received his license a few months back, but his driving was under the condition that his unofficial father or someone he trusted was with him at all times. 

So Ignis tried calling Mr. Scientia, then the Queen when he wouldn’t pick up, then messaged the King’s Shield in hopes that he would answer. Ignis even got so desperate that he tried calling the King himself to either get permission or help in retrieving Noctis from school, but there was no response.

Ignis bit his bottom lip as he paced around his living room.

He figured that he had two options here: either go against Mr. Scientia’s orders and drive by himself, along with commit the crime of grand theft auto as he would have to borrow a car without anyone’s knowledge or approval; or leave Noctis alone at his school for who knows how long until Ignis could find an adult to help him.

Ignis was out the door with Mr. Scientia’s car keys without a second thought.

Luckily, Ignis was a fine driver and was able to get to Noctis’ school in record time and without receiving any tickets on Mr. Scientia’s car. He pulled into the parking lot and exited the car, leaning back against the driver’s door so that Noctis would be able to see him despite the prince not knowing to look for him.

It only took about twenty minutes of waiting, with no phone calls to suggest that anyone had noticed him missing, before Noctis came out.

He was animatedly talking to a blond teen at his side, but when he noticed Ignis, Noctis’ eyes widened comically large and he ran to where Ignis was standing.

“What are you doing here?” the prince demanded as he took Ignis’ hands in his own. The smaller dragon pulled his arms this way and that as if searching for any damage Ignis could have done to himself while his blond friend trotted up behind Noctis and looked up in wonderment at Ignis.

Ignis tried to nod and smile politely as he was poked and prodded. “Hello, I don’t think we’ve met yet. My name is Ignis Scientia.”

The blond ‘meeped’ and hid behind Noctis. “Hi, um, I’m, or wait, my name is Prompto….Prompto Argentum.”

The teen was precious, Ignis thought, and sighed as Noctis finally let go Ignis’ hands.

The blue-eyed dragon scowled as he looked up at Ignis. “You know you can’t be outside yet. What if someone had tried to kidnap you? Where’s Gladio?”

Ignis’ eyes furrowed down at the prince. “No one has even spared me a second glance, Highness, and Gladiolus is currently…indisposed at the moment.” Ignis blushed as Noctis’ expression transformed from angry to confused.

“Indisposed?”

“He has…presented and is currently in rut. He asked me to take care of you while he is busy.”

Noctis’ face finally settled in a concerned frown. “Is he okay?”

“He…should be,” Ignis replied. He was just now realizing how little he actually knew about the castes and how presentations worked, and could only really hope that Gladiolus would be fine.

Prompto tapped Noctis on his arm and the prince turned to him as if just remembering that he was there. 

“I should start going home, Noct. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Ignis tilted his head. Were they planning on doing something with Gladiolus, but now couldn’t because he was there?

“Did you two have plans today?” Ignis asked the blond.

Prompto gasped when he realized that Ignis was talking to him. “No! No, I just normally…for the last few days…”

“Gladio always gives Prompto a ride home,” Noctis interrupted. His eyes jumped from one blond to the other, then finally settled on Ignis. “Well, since you’re here already and my scent is on you again, do you think we can take him home?”

His scent? What does that have to do with anything?

Ignis must have taken too long because Prompto started ranting on about being able to get home on his own or some other such nonsense. Ignis shook his head slightly.

“Of course, I’d be glad to. You’ll have to forgive me, but as I don’t know the streets that well, you’ll have to direct me which way to drive.”

“Is that really okay?” Prompto squeaked out and Ignis smiled down at him. The teen was just a hair shorter than Noctis, and Ignis was a good head taller than both of them, so he could easily see that Prompto’s suddenly impressive blush went below his uniform collar. 

Ignis never understood what everyone meant when they said they wanted to uncontrollably hug someone else before, but now Ignis appreciated the sentiment. Prompto was just too cute a dragon to not want to smother in kindness.

“Let’s go then,” Noctis said and went around the car to get in on the other side. Prompto followed quickly and Ignis slid back into the driver’s seat.

Ignis, despite having stolen a car and broken the only rule King Regis, Queen Aulea, and Mr. Scientia all agreed upon, did not get into as much trouble as he thought he would when he and Noctis returned to the Citadel. 

The three adults, four if you counted Clarus Amicitia who was there behind the King, were all waiting for them with their arms crossed, and Ignis would have been worried for his role as future Advisor if not for the fact that the four of them all had their phones out and were exchanging exasperated glances. 

Gladiolus, Ignis later was told, only had enough mental capacity before his rut to message Ignis to watch Noctis, so he was exempt from blame because he did reach out and find the best person to replace his role as Shield at the time. 

Ignis, on a technicality, was exempt from blame because he did try and reach out to someone else to help him with Noctis, but due to poor timing everyone who could have helped him was in a meeting with the council and could not get to their phones. So, because Noctis was a prince and could not be left alone while in a public place for long, Ignis’ adventure was the best possible maneuver for the circumstances. 

That didn’t mean they had to like it, though, and how did they show their displeasure? 

By having Ignis up his training regimen.

Now that Gladiolus had presented as an alpha, his own training had increased to better prepare him for his Crownsguard initiation, thus making it almost impossible for him to cart Noctis around anymore. So that task was cautiously given to Ignis. 

But, because Ignis was still technically not allowed to leave on his own, he was pushed into the early stages of Crownsguard prep work to better learn self-defense and dagger manipulation. 

Once he was deemed ready by the King himself, Ignis was given his own crown issued car and officially allowed to drive Noctis to and from school.

Unofficially, Ignis also drove Prompto home whenever he needed, but since Noctis was always there, the prince waved away the technicality. The two also never told any of the elder dragons of their detours, but that tidbit was also ignored.

*

Prompto had become such a large part of Noctis’ life throughout the following year: becoming the first best friend Noctis had made on his own outside the Citadel gave him an unspoken and unlimited freedom to enter the Citadel to always be spend time with the prince. And with his constant presence with Noctis, the fifteen year old became close to Ignis as well. 

Prompto was such a ball of sunshine whenever Ignis saw him. He was a polite boy with an excitable personality, and Ignis internally connected with him as Prompto eventually revealed that he was also adopted by a family in Insomnia when he was just a baby. 

Ignis knew that it was only a loose similarity they had, but that didn’t stop Prompto from nodding sympathetically when Ignis shared that he still didn’t have any memories of his first home or his first parents either.

The real surprise connection though was actually between Prompto and Gladiolus of all people. It seemed that the few times Gladiolus had chauffeured Prompto around was enough to get the two talking like close friends, and every now and then Prompto would ask to come visit the Citadel and would end up watching Noctis and his almost official Shield spar. 

The younger blond would have no trouble waltzing right up to Gladiolus after a session and begin talking his ear off about this or that, Ignis was never really able to follow along with Prompto unless he was being directly spoken to, and the two would still be laughing together long after Noctis would retire to his rooms to freshen up.

*

Noctis had confided in Ignis, during the new year right before Ignis’ eighteenth birthday and the snow had built up to warrant the prince’s high school to call off for a snow day, that he feared that he was losing Prompto’s friendship to Gladiolus. 

Ignis had put an immediate stop to that line of thinking by pointing out that Ignis and Noctis were still friends, very, very close friends, despite Noctis having friendships with both Prompto and Gladiolus. And Noctis vehemently denied when Ignis asked him if Noctis had actually stopped caring for Ignis when he gained Prompto’s friendship in the start, then compared that feeling to what Noctis and Prompto were experiencing.

It was a long shot, but that conversation eased the growing tension in Noctis, and his relationship between himself, Prompto and Gladiolus all improved afterwards. 

All seemed well during Ignis’ eighteenth birthday, and a huge celebration took place despite Ignis’ request to not make a big deal out of it. 

Noctis had surprisingly become overtly…clingy to Ignis after the celebrations. He constantly needed to be around Ignis, if not touching him, whenever they were alone together for a study session or during a car ride. 

The sixteen-year-old prince wasn’t one for outwardly displays of affection normally, so whenever they were in public, Noctis took to holding Ignis’ wrist right at his scent gland. 

Ignis’ scent soothed the prince, Noctis had later confessed after a long training spar with his Shield. Even though Ignis didn’t have a scent to himself, Noctis said that whenever he had a strong emotion, Ignis would give off a slight fragrance to express his mood.

It was mortifying, Ignis said once he was told that he unintentionally gave off his pheromones. It was Ignis, Noctis had replied as if that made up for anything.

In a strange way though, it kind of did.

It was almost like the same feeling Ignis had whenever he got a particularly powerful dose of Noctis’ scent. 

With how often the two were together, Ignis was almost constantly coated in Noctis scent despite the prince’s natural odor still being diluted since he hadn’t presented yet. It was a surprise that Ignis had a scent of his own at all, really. 

He had mentioned that once to Mr. Scientia during a calm spring evening, and the older dragon choked on his tea. 

Ignis had taken to drinking a copious amount of coffee once his duties had expanded again to take care of Noctis, and the strong aroma of earth and creamer was the next topmost scent of what Ignis smelled like whenever Noctis’ scent wasn’t surrounding him. 

Gladiolus had scrunched his nose at him when Ignis entered the training room once and commented that his scent was blocking even his alpha nose.

Noctis had frozen at that comment when he trailed in after Ignis, and before Ignis could ask what was wrong, Noctis demanded that his Advisor be drenched in coffee before every spar he had with Gladiolus.

Ignis just blinked at the prince and shared a look with his Shield.

After the Shield had presented, Ignis had taken it upon himself to research as much as he could about the castes system. And what he learned on his own was much more extensive than what he was taught years ago.

The three castes of alpha, beta, and omega could be placed on the three main points of a straight line, with all dragons presenting at different points on that line. There were also ‘perfect’ breeds of each caste that marked the distinction between a presentation. 

A ‘perfect’ alpha was like King Regis: dominant, protective, and sheltering of all those he considered his pack. A ‘perfect’ omega was like Queen Aulea: loving, supportive, and protective in a way that was different than an alpha. If the King was protective of the physical body, then the Queen was protective of the mental safety of all those she considered her pack. And a ‘perfect’ beta was a dragon who safeguarded both; the ultimate neutral to immediately calm any tension between the other castes. If Ignis had to guess, the closest he knew to being a perfect beta would have to be Mr. Scientia, but that was never made official and his adoptive father had never given a straight answer when asked.

All other dragons fell somewhere onto that line and their personalities tended to match their caste. There could be an alpha who was closer to the ‘perfect’ beta and was much more mild mannered than an alpha who was closer to the ‘perfect’ alpha side. There could be a beta that dedicated themself more to the home than anything else if they were born with a closer tie to an omega gene. There were even cases of a presented omega that acted brash and threatening because they shared a point all the way on the alpha side and completely bypassed the beta altogether. The possibilities were endless. 

However, the possible territorial battles were endless as well. If unsuppressed, a dragon’s possessive nature could cause them to fight with any other caste member, but was most common between those near the same point.

Which was why, when Gladiolus had presented into an alpha –despite him being closer to the beta point than the alpha one- Noctis’ perfect alpha blood had taken him as a threat. 

Or, at least, that was the reason Ignis figured Noctis had suddenly taken to antagonizing his Shield a little more forcefully than before. Noctis never allowed Ignis to be alone with Gladiolus anymore, had barely allowed Ignis to be alone at all really, and still tried to spar with the older using their dragon forms despite Noctis not having presented. Which would make their spar both illegal and dangerous for the prince. 

Gladiolus’ dragon had developed nicely throughout the years after his first rut. His dragon limbs had filled out with the same muscles that appeared on his human arms from all his additional training, and his stature had filled out to be a solid fourteen feet in length and nine feet in height. His powerful wingspan gave him even more presence; the amber flesh of his wings highlighting his golden underbelly and piercing amber eyes. The rest of his body was a dark brown, a little lighter than his hair color, but close enough. There was no mistaking the future King’s Shield as anything less than pure power and defense from the top of his golden horns to the razor sharp bone white claws he stood on.

But Noctis, pure, sweet, sixteen-year-old and un-presented Noctis, thought that he could still take on his Shield the same way he could when they were younger. 

*

Ignis had stepped between the seventeen and twenty year old dragons once, and Noctis had hidden his Advisor away in his room for the rest of the day. Now whenever the two spar, Ignis has made sure that there is either a beta present to calm the pair before Noctis got a little too heated, or Prompto. 

Prompto had presented into the perfect beta for their group close to his seventeenth birthday that year, and thus became a good neutral shield whenever Ignis wanted to step in and end their training early. Gladiolus had also seemed to form a strong bond with the little blond, so he was very easy to appease whenever his own alpha got too annoyed at Noctis and wanted to assert dominance. 

*

It was past Noctis’ eighteenth birthday, and Ignis was finally reaching the end of his patience with the prince’s and Shield’s dick sizing competition that has existed over the past three years. The Advisor, much like the rest of Noctis’ family, was ready for Noctis to finally present. They hoped that when he did, he would pack bond above Gladio as a perfect alpha, or, at least, their dragons could finally settle their fighting once and for all.

Although it was more of a one-sided fight on Noctis’ part as Gladio, poor soul that Ignis had gotten to know throughout the years, put up with whatever Noctis tried to throw against him. 

Even though Ignis was twenty and had yet to present himself, Gladiolus and even Prompto had both presented at the age of seventeen. But Noctis had passed his seventeenth year without fanfare, and Ignis could only hope for the best in the upcoming year. 

It was currently a nice spring night and the Advisor rubbed his temple at the mountain of paperwork he needed to get done for the prince by the morning as he took another sip of his coffee. 

Should he really be drinking coffee at three in the morning? Probably not, but that has never stopped him before. 

Ignis wasn’t a fool, though, and knew that if he stopped drinking coffee at three am he would probably get less headaches overall as well.

But, an Advisor’s work is never done, he reasoned with himself and took another sip.

Ignis jumped in his seat when his phone went off.

He reached for it, scowling deeply at the thought of it being a Prompto, who, for the third time this week, had to share his most recent dream with him. Or even Gladio, who knew Ignis stayed up late most nights and was telling him to go to bed.

But instead of either of those names, it was Noctis who was calling him.

Ignis immediately picked up.

“Your Highness?”

There was heavy breathing on the other side for a long moment and Ignis repeated himself.

“Iggy,” Noctis’ voice sounded ragged and ten times deeper than Ignis had ever heard from him before.

“I think I’m going into rut.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty. Who actually read this whole thing? Some people wanted to see them grow up together, so I tried to make it as interesting as possible despite so much explaining. For those that just want a summary, I won't keep you any longer.
> 
> Noctis (14), Ignis (16), Gladio (17): Noct starts high school and Ignis is given his advisor duties. Gladio presents as an alpha and goes into rut for the first time. Ignis meets Prompto.  
> Noctis (15/16), Ignis (17/18), Gladio (18/19): Ignis and Prompto become friends over both being adopted. Gladio and Prompto begin to get closer as friends. Noctis gets worried that he'll lose Prom and gets subconsciously possessive of Ignis while trying to keep him covered in Noctis' scent. Ignis researches the dragon caste system, along with 'perfect' alphas, betas, and omegas.  
> Noctis (17), Ignis (19), Gladio (20): Prompto presents as a perfect beta.
> 
> Next time: Noctis goes into rut and tries to woo Ignis. Starting next chapter I'll be making the rating Explicit. There will be details that go into...detail and future chapters will have a bit more steam to them.


	6. Getting to Where We Need to Go (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, quick question. Is it weirder to call a baby dragon a hatchling when it doesn't hatch from an egg, or a pup when it's not a wolf? I can't decide. So it'll just be "baby" for now and hopefully you guys can help me out for the future. In this chapter: Noct gets handsy. That's pretty much it. Enjoy him awkwardly flirt his way into Ignis' heart. Also, please take note of the rating change. From here on out the chapters may contain very graphic mature themes and I'll warn about anything coming up in the notes up here, but just be aware of future extreme sexual content and possible upcoming violence.
> 
> If you have left a comment, thank you so much and please know that I have been trying to respond to everyone for the last few days, but every time I try, my computer or phone glitches out. Has anyone else had this problem? So if you've commented before, hopefully I can reply with this update.

Noctis had been waiting to present for a long time now; he’d been excited for it. But as much as he thought he was ready for his first rut, Noctis could never have properly prepared himself for just how…awful everything was.

When Gladio had presented four years ago, he told Noctis that it was three days full of overheating and horniness, but he also felt powerful and was filled with a desperate need to protect everyone he was close to. 

When Prompto had presented into the perfect beta last year, he told Noctis that it was a day’s worth of time that he needed to be by himself; to take in the sounds and sights he could see from his room and have his dragon finally settle into the feeling of correctness that he’d never had in his body before.

His mother had said that everyone presented differently, and that he shouldn’t base his expectations off of what others had gone through. His father just pat him on the back and told him to keep a large stash of water in his room for whenever his body was ready.

Noctis moaned into his pillow and pushed off all the covers from his bed.

He was still hot. Unbearably so. And even after Noct tore off every bit of clothing that was on him, he still wasn’t able to cool down. He tried opening his windows, but the spring air was muggy with signs of rain and made everything noticeably worse, so Noct had closed them as soon as he’d opened them.

There was also a tenseness in his back, like his dragon wings were ready to burst from his spine the second he’d let them, but Noctis feared that he would damage his room beyond repair if he transformed into his dragon now. 

So the prince had to settle with stalking around his room naked at one am in the hopes that his body might unwind enough to let him go back to sleep.

Two hours passed and nothing had changed. 

Noctis grumbled into his pillow again as he tried to keep his hands underneath it.

In just those two hours, Noctis had succeeded in taking a small nap, but his body had become incredibly oversensitive, to the point where whenever he so much as twitched, Noct would let out a quiet whimper. And it was hard not to move when his whole body was practically vibrating with a need to either jump up and destroy something, or jerk off.

Thus, the reason for his trapped hands.

Noctis was so horny; he had awoken with his cock already rock hard and rubbing slightly against his mattress, but forced himself to stop in his mortification. 

Even just thinking about it got his dick twitching and spouting more precome. 

All right, so don’t think about it. But that was impossible too when there was absolutely nothing to distract his mind with.

…Well…. 

Noctis sat up and reached for his phone on the side table. He pressed the speed dial for Ignis and waited for the other to pick up.

If he couldn’t distract himself, maybe Ignis could help him.

Noctis waited a few rings before Ignis’ voice rang out from the other side.

“Your Highness?”

Oh no, this was a bad idea. 

Just the sound of Ignis’ accented words rumbled through Noct’s body and instantly all his attention was back to his throbbing cock. He bit at his finger to keep his hand from flying down to touch himself. 

His breathing was harsh even to his own ears, and when Ignis gave another “Your Highness?” Noctis’ body fully shuddered. 

“Iggy,” Noctis whispered as he removed his hand from his mouth and instead couldn’t help himself from trailing it down his neck. “I think I’m going into rut.”

Ignis’ breath caught on the other side of the line and Noctis could practically hear the wheels turning in his Advisor’s mind.

“Do you have water with you, Noctis? Do you need me to call for some help or…?”

Noctis gave a low growl in the back of his throat the more Ignis talked. 

Damn but that voice did things to Noct that he wasn’t expecting when he first called. Ignis naturally had such a seductive tone that reverberated through his accent that drove Noct crazy. With those few words alone, Noctis’ mind immediately imagined Ignis in the room with him. On his knees, looking up with those impossibly green eyes as he licked his lips and asked Noct what he needed.

Without realizing it, Noctis grabbed his cock and his whole body jerked at the touch. His breath choked on a whine with how good it felt.

“I just need…” the prince panted out when he thought he could control his voice again. “Just…talk to me Iggy.”

“Talk?”

“Say anything. Tell me about your night. What are you working on?”

Noctis should have hung up, but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Ignis made a confused sound, but actually started explaining the report he was reading, because of course Ignis was working instead of sleeping, Noctis realized suddenly. His twenty-year-old friend was always keeping himself busy with work that could have waited until morning for, and Noctis hoped that he would remember to scold Ignis when his rut was over about taking better care of himself.

For now though, the chatter was exactly what Noctis needed.

The words were meaningless in Noctis’ mind, but he was able to imagine the rumbling in his ear to be saying other things, more important things, instead. 

Like how if Ignis was in the same room, Noctis would have pulled him up from his kneeling position and deposited him into Noct’s bed. He’d lean the Advisor backwards until he was comfortably reclined on the pillows, carefully strip off all the tailored clothing Ignis had started wearing in the past few years to reveal what was hidden underneath. Noctis would stare at that perfectly naked body, all long limbs and quiet strength, and know that that body belonged to him. 

Noctis would kiss those lips that have haunted him since he was a teenager and gently pull away those glasses that had hidden Ignis’ eyes from him for five years.

Ignis would mewl when Noctis would lean down and take a nipple into his mouth, then beg as Noctis sucked on it, preparing it for when it would be plump and full with-

And Noctis would finally be able to soak in that delicious scent that was Ignis. Pure, undiluted Ignis. The elusive scent that he had first experienced years ago and had since learned was Ignis’ inner omega would be Noct’s, and only Noct’s perfume to breathe in. The prince would never let anyone else smell that glorious scent ever again for as long as he lived.

And then Noctis would reach down and coat his hand in Ignis’ slick; the type only a presented omega could produce, and reach further to prepare his mate. Prepare him for the knot Noctis would stuff him with, pleasure him with, fill him full of babies with. 

And Ignis would beg for him to mate him, bond him; use that sexy voice to tempt Noct into giving him everything he could ever want. And Noctis would be the best alpha for Ignis. He would prove that he was the best mate for him and could provide for him and his future babies. His dragon would shelter them beneath his wings and he would protect them from anything the world would dare to try and harm them with.

“Noctis?”

Yes! Ignis would moan his name over and over as he repeatedly pounded inside that tight little body. Ignis would shout in ecstasy whenever Noctis was able to pleasure him to his fullest, hit that place inside him to make Ignis sing. 

“Noct?”

Gods, and Noctis would paint Ignis’ insides with his seed. Shoot himself deep into Ignis’ womb to make sure to give him only the strongest of babes to prove that he was worthy to be Ignis’ mate and alpha. He would-!

“Ignis!” Noctis shouted and he squeezed the base of his cock, right at his swollen knot and came all over his hand. Noctis leaned back down and panted heavily as he recovered from the strongest orgasm he had ever had in his life. 

It took him a few seconds to realize that Ignis was still talking to him from the phone.

“Noctis, are you alright? You started breathing very heavily all of a sudden and weren’t responding.”

If Noctis had the blood to spare, he was sure his entire body would be amass in a blush from the realization that Ignis had heard him through all of that.

As he was still recovering, and to his utter shame his cock had not deflated despite it still dripping a copious amount of cum, Noctis could only stutter out his humiliation.

“I’m fine Ignis! Just…just got too deep in my thoughts is all.”

“O-oh…but you certainly sounded like you were in pain-”

“All fine! I’m sorry for bothering you! Go to sleep!”

“But-”

Noctis hung up the call before Ignis could properly respond and threw his phone halfway across the room.

He covered his eyes with his arm and groaned at himself. 

Not only had he just had the best imaginary sex, but his imaginary partner had heard him go through it. Noctis had thought that he had gotten over his embarrassing stage with Ignis years ago, but he was still just as awkward now as he was then. 

Why couldn’t he just control his crush around Ignis for two seconds?

The itch under his skin was coming back into Noctis’ body and he looked down at his cock in mortification. 

Ignis hadn’t even presented yet and Noctis had already pretend-mated him. And thought about making him pregnant. How low could he get?

Noctis moaned as the thought of a pregnant Ignis made his cock jump in excitement. 

If he survived this rut and was still able to look Ignis in the eye afterwards, Noct promised himself that he would start trying to court his Advisor properly.

***

Noctis’ rut lasted a full five days, and by the end of it he was ready to move out of the Citadel.

The amount of times a servant had walked into his room as he was humping the bed would leave a scar in his memory for the rest of Noct’s life, and not even his normally proud father’s face flushed in embarrassment when he realized that he forgot to let them know wasn’t enough to appease Noctis.

The prince was, however, proud of himself for only needing three days to properly look Ignis in the eye again.

His advisor had smiled at him sympathetically when Noctis finally found the courage to seek him out, and Ignis was polite enough to avoid any conversation relating to his first night of rut. Instead, Ignis nodded at him and said ‘your alpha fits you well’ before diving straight into a political recap of all the work he had missed.

Noctis preened at Ignis’ approval.

The prince always knew that he would become an alpha eventually; he had grown up with his father’s stories of the Lucis Caelum line and everyone’s assumptions that he would, after all. But now that he had presented, he finally felt right.

His body was still growing, yes, even at eighteen, but his dragon finally felt correctly settled in his chest. He wasn’t bursting at the seams to transform at the drop of a hat, or itching to somehow “prove” himself to all the staff that he was worthy to be their prince anymore. 

And he had apologized to Gladio.

His Shield, thank Titan, had just laughed good naturedly and clapped him on the back when he had approached him.

Now that Noctis had presented into a perfect alpha, he instantly pack bonded to Gladio and Prompto as their head alpha and the constant need to fight Gladio was gone. His Shield had bowed to Noctis and revived his oath to him, officially this time, as he swore to protect his prince and alpha for the rest of his life.

While Noctis appreciated the gesture and understood the love behind the action, it all made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. 

Prompto had laughed at him when Noctis retold the story, and joked that maybe he should take an oath or something to prove his own loyalty to Noct.

Ignis had said that he probably would have to since Prompto was pack with Noctis and would probably be recruited into his Crownsguard now that Noctis had presented.

Prompto paled and Noctis had asked if Ignis was going to do the same.

“Of course, your Highness,” Ignis said as he smiled down at Noct—damn him for still being taller—and Noctis’ chest swelled in happiness. “I would love nothing more than to enter your pack when I present.”

That sentiment had kept Noctis excitedly running throughout the training room in his dragon form for the rest of the night.

And in his dragon mindset, Noctis couldn’t help but yearn for Ignis’ omega to finally emerge.

After he presented, Noctis’ dragon grew to what he expected would be his final size. He was still smaller than Gladio’s dragon, an acceptance that was hard swallowed, but Noctis was still large in his own right. His nine feet snout to tail black body wasn’t as buff as Gladio’s, but it made up in power with his sleekness and impenetrable wingspan. As a perfect alpha, it was Noctis’ body’s responsibility to protect his pack and future mate, human ideas like a Shield be damned, and with Noct’s natural speed he was able to attack with his knife-like claws and whip-like tail for deadly accurate precision. 

Even though it was Gladio’s sole place to keep Noctis safe, it was in Noctis’ blood to be the absolute sword and shield to defend his family.

And his dragon, Noctis finally was able to realize after all these years, had chosen Ignis to be the start of his family.

Which was why, after Noctis graduated and finalized his moving out into his own apartment at the age of nineteen, he didn’t question his dragon’s instincts to latch onto Ignis at every chance he could get.

There were certain issues however that Noctis did not think about when he had moved out on his own, and the most pressing one was that he would no longer be around Ignis twenty-four seven anymore. And that meant that Noctis couldn’t latch onto Ignis regularly anymore and Ignis pretty much lost all of Noctis’ scenting every morning.

That had to be fixed immediately, but he had had no way to figure out how. To his surprise it was actually his mom that created a solution to his problem when it first arose a few months after he left the Citadel.

“Why not have Ignis move in with you? He’ll practically always end up here anyway,” the Queen had asked them when she came to visit Noctis one afternoon. Noctis immediately agreed; Ignis was pretty much constantly over now to deliver meeting summaries, drive him to and from his college campus, cook, clean, and generally keep Noct company on a daily basis. Why not move in with him?

Ignis, on the other hand, had dignifiedly coughed over his coffee into his gloved hand and blushed all the way down his neck and beneath his steamed shirt collar.

“That is highly inappropriate, my lady,” he eventually got out after his coughing fit. “I’m simply his Advisor, albeit an unintentionally developing ward as well, but I have no right to intrude into his Highness’ space any more than necessary. It was the whole reason he moved out, if I may remind you.”

“You still need to be scented by him,” she, in turn, reminded Ignis, “you have yet to present and cannot go about Insomnia without some scent to cover you.”

“I have gotten better at controlling my pheromone release,” Ignis squirmed under her stare. 

Noctis scoffed and growled lowly in the back of his throat. Like hell he would allow Ignis to walk around unscented and risk some lowlife dragon accidentally smelling him.

“That doesn’t mean accidents can’t happen,” Aulea said soothingly, but with a tone of warning finality in her voice.

Ignis flinched as he heard it too. “I don’t want to intrude…” he mumbled in a way that he only ever would around his mother figure. 

“You wouldn’t be!” Noctis tried to say, but his mother spoke over him.

“Then move into this building, then. We can rearrange your schedule to start you later at the palace, and it’ll give you enough time to be scented by Noctis and complete all your duties here first. There’s no need for you to run back and forth anymore; it runs you ragged and you’ll be significantly less exhausted during the day.”

Aulea frowned at Ignis with her last point and he flinched again. Noctis hunched in on himself as he really looked over Ignis’ darkly rimmed eyes and pale skin for what had to be the first time. He didn’t realize that Ignis was so tired because Ignis had always been tired, even when they both lived at the castle, but now that he thought about it, he could clearly see the changes in his crush forming ever since Noctis first moved out.

Noctis whined and gently took Ignis’ hands in his. “Please come live with me. I want you to.” Noct pleaded as he gazed up into Ignis’ eyes. 

Ignis sighed and turned his head away.

“I guess…I can look into getting an apartment here.”

That wasn’t as good as if Ignis had agreed to live with him, but Noctis would take what he could get and perked up all the same.

A few weeks later, Ignis moved into the building and lived closer to Noctis than ever before.

“Highness, it’s time to get up.”

But now that Ignis was so close to him again, his Advisor had taken to waking Noctis up at ungodly hours of the morning. Ignis said it was only practical so that they’d have enough time to do everything in his morning routine; Noctis called bullshit and knew Ignis was getting a kick out of rising Noctis up with the birds.

Noctis groaned into his pillow and blindly reached out to grab Ignis’ hand. The other male huffed like he always did, but allowed Noctis to pull him down onto the bed. 

Noctis cuddled into Ignis’ cotton shirt clad chest and smiled. Ignis used to try and wake him up in his fully ironed out outfit of the day, but after a few times of Noctis completely crinkling his suit into ruin, he had given up and taken to wearing his sleep clothes to the morning routine. 

Noctis rubbed his scent glands all over Ignis until he was satisfied that the silver dragon smelled like nothing but him, but even after he was done Noctis refused to let go.

Every day, Noctis tried to push just a little further into Ignis’ personal space to see what the other would allow Noctis to give, and today the prince decided that he was going to try and scent at his neck.

Noctis subtly tried to push himself further up Ignis’ body, but froze when Ignis’ hand made its way into his hair.

“Your den is always so nice in the morning,” Ignis whispered and Noctis looked up at him. The older dragon’s eyes were slightly glazed over and unfocused, and Noctis could detect the smallest amount of this content Ignis’ pheromones being release into the room as he pet Noct’s hair repeatedly.

“It makes me want to build a nest in here.”

Noctis stiffened. A nest? Was Ignis…?

But then Ignis blinked and the hazy look to his face was gone. In its place was the hyper focused green gaze that pierced Noctis back into awareness himself.

“Are you done, Highness? We are already behind, and the day hasn’t even started yet,” Ignis sighed and shifted slightly to prod Noctis into getting off him.

Noctis groaned as he flopped to the side and hugged his pillow. Even though he was considered to be an adult dragon, Noctis could not be bothered to bring out his princely grace until after noon, at the earliest. 

Ignis softly cooed at him as he gripped the covers underneath the prince tightly, then pulled so swiftly that he flipped Noctis right out of bed. 

***

“I’m telling you, Prom, I think Ignis might be close to presenting.”

Prompto stretched out on Noctis’ living room couch and cracked his back through his sheer force of will. 

“And I’m telling you that I don’t think he is because you still let him leave this morning.” Prom looked up at Noctis and gently kicked the prince’s arm that was next to his foot.

“Gladio’s told me all about how a courting alpha gets when their intended goes into season. You’d never have let him take a single step out of this room if you really thought he was presenting.”

Noctis made a face at the old term for heats and ruts. A dragon’s ‘season’ was when they became most fertile, but the word was really only used by the old dragons who were too offended to say ‘heat’ or ‘rut’. What was Prompto doing using that word?

“Gladio did, huh?” Noctis scoffed and pushed Prompto’s leg away. “He tell you that before or after he say how crazy he got when you presented?”

Prompto blushed and hid his face.

Noctis first found out about his friends’ crushes on each other when he was the one who found Gladio pacing manically through the Citadel when he was supposed to be training Noct on the night before Prompto presented. Gladio had been moody, pouting to the point of almost being feral if Noctis was being honest, until he finally managed to poke at his Shield enough to get the older dragon to talk.

Gladio knew that Prompto was presenting, at least subconsciously, all throughout that day and was so upset because he hadn’t been able to see the blond before he’d locked himself away in his room. 

And Prompto, when Noctis had called him to check in and make sure he was all right, confessed that for as much as he wanted to be alone through the presentation, he had wished that he’d had Gladio scent him before he’d gone under.

Usually, alpha and beta pairings didn’t have as strong of a mating sense as alphas and omegas, so Gladio hadn’t known what was wrong with him until Prompto had come out of presenting, but once the two saw each other as full alpha and beta for the first time, they had realized that they were truemates always meant to be together.

Noctis, as happy as he was for his friends, was convinced that this was the moment that he lost both of them, but Ignis was there like always and comforted him with the knowledge that the other two hadn’t left him yet after all the years they’d known each other. 

Ignis had also subtly mentioned Noct’s insecurities to them one Friday night, and the rest of the weekend was filled with his three friends constantly surrounding and reassuring him that they were his pack and would never leave him.

But as much as Prompto and Gladio were grateful that Noctis didn’t hold their bonding against them, that didn’t stop them from relentlessly teasing his overwhelming crush on Ignis that had only skyrocketed after he presented himself and all but glued Ignis to his side.

“Besides, I said that I only think that he’s close. You’re right: I’d never let him leave my sight if he was actually going into heat,” Noctis said with a frown.

For as long as Noctis had waited for his rut, he had waited for Ignis’ heat more desperately. He was determined that they were truemates as well, and he couldn’t wait to look into Ignis’ eyes after his presentation and finally be able to actually have the bond that’s been tugging at the back of his mind for years.

And he also couldn’t wait to bury himself in Ignis’ omega scent that had been haunting him since he was first called to it when they met as children. The thought of anyone else experiencing that scent, or Ifrit help him, trying to steal Ignis away as their own had one of Noctis’ hands bunching up into a fist and the other begin to claw at the couch armrest.

Prompto must have seen the utter fury in his eyes because he jumped up to properly sit next to Noctis and awkwardly hover his hands over him.

“Oh, Six, Gladio warned me about this too. Can you hear me, buddy? I need you to take a few deep breaths and calm down a bit with me. In, out. In, and out, that’s it.”

Noctis was barely able to concentrate on Prompto over the roar of his dragon in his ears, but eventually he was able to calm enough to look Prompto in the face.

“You back with me, Noct?” the beta asked with a smile but Noctis could see the slight tension at the corners of his lips.

Noctis let out a big sigh. “Yeah, sorry.”

Prompto sighed as well and placed a hand over his chest in relief.

“Maybe Ignis is near his presentation after all. I’ve never seen your eyes glow like that, buddy.”

Noctis covered one of his eyes. “Glow?”

Prompto nodded. “Like, really glow. Like some of the pictures of your dad from the war.”

The Lucis Caelum line was thought to have been descendants of the founding dragons of Lucis from myth; their blood filled with old magic that their ancestors had used to wield in battle. Nowadays, it was really nothing more than some glowing eyeball trick whenever they were pushed to absolute rage, but the people took comfort in the tales, so none of the Caelums had ever said otherwise.

Noctis took a few more deep breaths to make sure that he was really, honestly calm as Prompto put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Noct?”

Noctis ‘hmmed’ in response without opening his eyes.

“Have you thought about…talking to Iggy about your feelings? You know, before he presents?”

Noctis did open his eyes and looked at Prompto at that question. “I have…thought about it.”

“Good, good.” Prompto chewed his bottom lip and cast his eyes away from Noct’s. 

Noctis nudged his friend’s shoulder.

“It’s just…I really think that you guys should talk about this stuff before Iggy presents and…well, you guys practically live together. Do you know if…he even wants a partner for his first heat? Or if he wants to be bonded the first time?”

Noctis thought about it for a long time, and all the blood in his body ran cold.

Ignis tolerated his scenting, yeah, but that was always because Noct’s mom, or dad, or Ignis’ adoptive father always had told him that he needed to. Ignis never asked for a scenting on his own. And Noctis had always known that Ignis was made his Advisor because his dad had parent bonded with Ignis and wanted to keep him safe by always putting him at Noctis’ side. Ignis never had a choice not to be by Noctis, not really. And even his living arrangements had been controlled by his mom when Ignis had been forced to follow after Noctis because Noct was the one who wanted to move out.

Noctis had always known that he was made to be by Ignis’ side, protecting him, loving him, everything. But what if Ignis never felt that way about Noctis and only saw them as friends, brothers even, for having grown up together for so long.

What if Ignis regained his still lost memories from before he was fifteen and brought to the Citadel, and remembered that there was someone else waiting for him? Someone Ignis had already bonded to before he had ever met Noctis?

Noct could feel Prompto shaking his shoulders and tried to bring his attention back to the here and now.

Prompto’s violet eyes were worried, but he brightened when Noctis focused on him again.

“You gotta stop spacing out on me, Noct.”

“What if Ignis doesn’t want me, Prompto?” Noctis asked as the blond rubbed his arm. “What if he’s only here because he never had a chance not to be?”

“Has he ever said anything about leaving?” Prompto tilted his head in question, his violet eyes large and innocent. 

“He’s tried to sneak off into the city…”

“Only because Iggy’s too smart to be cooped up in the castle all the time,” Prompto reassured. “Remember the first time he left to pick you up from school? He only ever leaves when he thinks that it’ll help you.”

“But what if he thinks it’s because of his job? A job that he only took because he was forced to.”

Prompto’s brows furrowed and his lips actually turned down in a frown. “Do you think Ignis is not good enough for the job as Advisor?”

“No, of course not!” Noctis recoiled as if shocked. “It’s like he was made for the role!”

“So do you think he wouldn’t have tried to become your Advisor if he wasn’t handed the job?”

“He…wasn’t thinking about it until Gladio had brought it up. As a joke.”

“Did he tell you that?”

Noctis hesitated, but shook his head no. 

“See, this is why you need to talk to him. Iggy told me that he was so excited when he was first offered the job because it gave him a purpose. A purpose during a time when he had no memories and no place to call his own, might I add.” Prompto tried to straighten his back as tall as it would go so he could look down at Noctis. 

“You’ve liked Ignis for as long as you’ve known him, Noct. Probably even longer than that. And if you didn’t even know that his role as Advisor makes him the happiest dragon he could be, then you have no right to guess how he feels about you. You can’t just assume this kind of stuff, dude. It’s not fair to you or him.”

Noctis was silent for a long while as he took in Prompto’s words, then let out a harsh breath and lightly pushed the blond off the couch.

Prompto went with it good-naturedly and pretended to fall off with a flurry motion of his arms. “Hey! Not cool!”

Noctis chuckled and leaned back, placing an arm over his eyes. “When’d you get to be so smart, Prom?”

“It’s a beta thing,” he beamed. “I get to be the one all cool and collected when you alphas start to freak out about stupid stuff.”

“So Mr. Cool and Collected, what do you suggest I do about Ignis?”

Prompto leaned his head onto his palm with his elbow leaning on top of his knee. “He mentioned nesting, right? Maybe make the start of one to show off to his dragon. His internal omega will love it. Then when he’s properly wooed, maybe talk to him about his thoughts on presenting and go forward from there. Talking can only help your chances at courting him, after all.”

***

“Noctis? What is this?”

Ignis had come back earlier than expected from his duties at the Citadel; so early that Noctis had only had just enough time to send Prompto away and make the smallest of piles of his clothing on top of his bed. When Ignis entered Noctis’ room when he couldn’t find him outside, Noctis stared up at him from the foot of the bed with one arm underneath it with the hope of retrieving his pair of shorts that was stuck there.

Ignis met his gaze with a slow blink as he took in the sight.

“What are you doing?”

Noctis smiled as he managed to grab the shorts and throw them to the top of the pile before standing up. 

“I, uh,” Noctis coughed into his fist and gestured to the bed, “I wanted to start a nest for you.”

Ignis blinked again. 

“Surprise?” The prince’s smile turned sheepish. “I’d hoped to be done before you got back, but, well, now you can really make it how you like it.”

The taller dragon slowly walked deeper into the room and gently ran his hand over the hastily put together nest. Ignis was very quiet as he surveyed Noct’s work, and the black dragon squirmed in place at the assessment. 

Finally, Ignis looked back at him.

“You really don’t know how to make nests, do you?” he asked with a small smile.

Noctis flinched as if he’d been struck. “I’d heard that a nest was…made up of things that smelled like you? …Or your…mate…?” The last part was whispered out as Noctis turned his head in embarrassment.

Ignis laughed softly as he pet the clothes. “Well, yes. You’re not wrong, but-”

“I want to court you!” Noctis blurt out and Ignis’ eyes widened incredibly large. 

Noctis stared at the other and saw that Ignis’ entire face slowly became red in blush. Ignis ducked his head to try and hide his eyes and Noct saw that he started chewing on his bottom lip.

Noctis’ hands clenched and unclenched in nervousness.

“I want to court you,” Noctis said again, much quieter this time and emitted a soothing scent to hopefully calm Ignis and let him know how much Noctis cared about him.

Ignis let out a shuddering breath, then very subtly peeked up from his glasses. 

“But I’m a…retainer. Your retainer. And you’re a prince. How could you want someone like me?” the taller whispered as he clutched the last pair of shorts Noctis added to the nest like his life depended on it.

Noctis instantly began cooing soothingly in the back of his throat when he scented the fear Ignis was starting to give off.

“And you’ve…all been so kind to me…more than I deserve really, and I’m just a nothing dragon so I can’t be selfish and hope for…you’re the prince and even though you’ve been scenting me, it doesn’t mean…”

Ignis was starting to shake his head the more he went off into his own world inside his mind and Noctis couldn’t help but collect the dragon into his arms and lead him down into the not good nest to try and calm him.

Prompto was right: they should have talked a long time ago if these were the thoughts that Ignis was having. It broke Noctis’ heart to hear the absolute sorrow and self-depreciation that Ignis was muttering and Noct had to put a stop to it. Now.

Noctis crooned as he held Ignis to his neck and right against his scent glands. If he was going to convince Ignis of his sincerity, then he might as well give him proof right from the source. Ignis was softly shaking in his arms and Noctis rubbed his cheek against Ignis’ ashy blond hair.

“Hush, you silly Advisor. You deserve all the kindness you’ve been given here. You’re not nothing, you mean everything to me. I’ve never seen you ask for a can of Ebony, let alone anything that can make you selfish. I’ve been scenting you because I’m the prince and I want everyone to know that I’ve chosen you, that I want you to be my mate and no one else’s. You’re mine.” Noctis kept growling things into Ignis’ hair, things that he really wasn’t paying attention to, but knew that his words were nothing but truth no matter what he said, and continued to say them until Ignis settled down in his arms.

After some time, Ignis slowly calmed down enough to begin purring back to Noct and began rubbing his cheek over Noctis’ chest. The prince held him tighter in response. 

“I think my dragon chose you, Noctis, from the first day we met,” Ignis whispered with his head still buried, making his words small and barely noticeable. 

“I know my dragon loved you from the first day we met,” Noctis returned and Ignis let out a soft laugh.

“Love is a strong word, Highness,” Ignis said as he picked up his head and stared directly into Noctis’ blue eyes. Ignis’ perfectly kept hair was completely ruined and Noctis couldn’t help himself as he raised his head to meet Ignis’ lips in a light peck.

“It seems pretty accurate to me,” Noctis mouthed against those lips and Ignis huffed out a breath directly into Noctis’ face. 

“Let me…let me get up and we can argue the sentiments over dinner all you want.”

Noctis gave Ignis another peck and a tight squeeze around his waist. “I think…there’s something else I want to talk with you about, Ignis.”

The other tilted his head. 

“It’s about your heat.”

***

Ignis had gotten out of bed very quickly after that, and Noctis gave his Advisor a few minutes to himself.

When he was ready, Noctis ruffled his hair in aggravation before he sighed and left his room. 

He’d finally gotten the courage to confront Ignis about his feelings, was able to kiss him for the Six’s sake, but ended up scaring his Advisor off by bring up his heat so quickly. Noctis could kick himself. 

But as angry as Noct was with himself, he couldn’t help but stop and stare at the sight of Ignis running around his kitchen while in the process of making food. 

Ignis always looked so at home cooking; his eyes would crinkle in concentration as he read out of the small notebook he’d taken to carrying around ever since Noctis first moved out of the Citadel, and his lips would either be curled up into a smile if the recipe was going well, or down into a cute little pout when he couldn’t get the flavors to be how he wanted them.

And Ignis’ dragon would always give off a scent of happiness, no matter what face Ignis was making, whenever the taller would watch Noct eat what he had prepared. 

Besides the vegetables, Noctis was always more than happy to eat everything Ignis made him just so he could know that he was making the silver dragon happy.

Without realizing it, Noctis had made his way over to the kitchen counter and leaned over it so he could watch Ignis work closely. Ignis had stopped to look at him a few times, and now that Noctis had noticed he was able to catch those green eyes whenever they strayed to him, but otherwise tried to ignore Noctis altogether. 

After close to a half hour of silence with nothing but the sound of the cooking pasta to come between them, Ignis finally said something.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about my presentation,” he said with his back turned towards Noct. The prince had been slouching in his seat against the counter, but Noctis straightened immediately when Ignis started talking. “And I’ve come to the decision that I…wouldn’t mind having a partner for my first time.”

Noctis could see the blush Ignis was sporting go all the way down his neck and up to the tips of his ears, and the prince perked up.

“Yeah?” he asked with a slight lift to his voice. 

Ignis nodded. 

“I’ve considered it for years, actually, but after you had your first rut, I had made up my mind….or.... at least I had hoped…” Ignis shoulders tensed as he chanced a glance over his shoulder to where Noctis was sitting.

“I had hoped…” he repeated while making eye contact with the prince.

Noctis shifted slightly in his seat.

“From your phone call that night, I had hoped that my feelings could be returned as more than just a duty you had to scent me, but then you began taking suppressants and I couldn’t determine your feelings from your scent like I had wanted.” Ignis licked his lips and turned his gaze back to the pasta.

Noctis had started taking suppressants the second he was out of his rut; they were needed to curb the rut from every three months to every six, but they also had the effect of toning down his alpha scent for other dragons.

If Ignis had planned to smell if Noctis desired him at all during his rut, those three days that Noct had avoided him would have been enough to cover all traces of want with the use of the pills. 

Noctis face palmed and groaned at his timing.

“You mean if I had sought you out instead of hiding and waited a day after my rut to start taking the suppressants, we could have been together all this time?” Noctis moaned to himself. 

Ignis covered his laugh with a fist as he stirred a pot of sauce. “It would seem so, your Highness.”

Noctis glared up at Ignis. “You never smelled like desire around me, so I had never known either. You’re not taking your own suppressants, are you?”

“No. It is almost a certainty that I will present as an omega, so Mr. Scientia had scheduled me training with an omega instructor on how to control my scent release. I couldn’t distract you after you presented, after all.”

Like always, Ignis did too damn well at his job; so much so that Noctis had no idea that Ignis had ever desired him too. 

“I have, however,” Ignis started while Noctis was thinking, “started taking contraceptives so that I am able to have a partner during my heat. I’m sure that tempers down my scent as well, so.”

Noctis blushed as he realized that he never once thought of Ignis being on a birth pill through all the times he’d come to the fantasy of mating with him. It saddened Noct’s dragon, certainly, but his human mind was able to see the value in taking precaution. 

“That’s a good idea,” Noctis agreed and Ignis’ shoulders visibly relaxed a bit. Did Ignis think that he would be against that decision? 

Ignis at last turned the stove off, then turned around completely to give Noctis his full attention. 

“My body has started feeling a bit odd these last few weeks, and I believe that I should present around the same time as your next rut.” Ignis’ blush never went away, but he pushed up his glasses to try and cover his cheeks. “I cannot guarantee anything, but, Highness…Noctis…would you-”

“Wait!” Noctis shouted and Ignis jumped. Noctis bolted off his chair and ran around to the other side of the kitchen island to kneel before Ignis and took his hands in between his. “I want to do it.” 

Ignis stared down at him incredulously.

“Ignis Scientia,” Noctis gently kissed the back of Ignis’ hands as he stared up into those green eyes, “would you do me the honor of taking me as your alpha doing your first heat?”

Ignis gazed down at him with such a fond look in his eyes that Noctis’ own began to prick a bit. 

“As long as you are fine with having me for a partner, and,” Ignis licked his lips again, “if you can promise me that you will not bond mark me, not in this heat at least, then I will gladly accept your offer to become my alpha and I your omega during our seasons together.”

Noctis laughed as he kissed Ignis’ hands again. Leave it to Ignis to make the act of promising sex to be the most romantic thing Noctis had ever done in his twenty years of life.

“I promise,” Noctis said and Ignis’ smiled practically beamed. 

“In that case, Highness,” Ignis tugged at Noctis’ hands, “may we please fix that atrocious thing you called a nest?”

“Hey! I worked really hard on that!” Noctis complained. Ignis gave him a look.

“I worked really hard to find all those clothes…”

Ignis chuckled when Noctis admitted to his call out, then returned back to the food. 

“We can start right after dinner.”

***

Noctis draped his most recent work out shirt onto the top right corner of Ignis’ nest, then pulled it off to shove it underneath the bottom center portion instead.

It had been a week since Noctis and Ignis had their conversation over diner and Noct finally thought that the nest was ready. Ignis had slowly started moving in and has been meticulous when he had placed every article of clothing that they had both brought in around Noctis’ bed. It had taken him days before he had even started calling it a nest again.

Noctis got the glorified job of re-scenting all of his clothes when Ignis thought that they didn’t smell like him enough, or scent new pieces whenever Ignis found something that was too dirty for him to even consider putting into his nest.

For as instinctive as creating a nest was for an omega, Ignis still kept some of his critical mind with what he was and was not willing to sleep on.

Noctis had groaned teasingly at the time, but he was immensely proud to watch as his soon to be omega fluttered around his room. 

Or, not actually his, Noctis had to remind himself. He promised Ignis that he would not bond him this time and he wholeheartedly planned on keeping Ignis’ wish intact. 

Noctis’ skin was beginning to itch again, a sure sign that his rut was planning to make itself known very soon, so the prince gently pat Ignis’ nest into proper place for the final time. 

Noctis had set up the guest room to have his rut in until either Ignis presented, or his cycle completed. Noct knew that once his rut really set in that it would be difficult to keep himself away from Ignis, whether he was in heat or not, so he figured that it would be best for him to seclude himself in a private room until Ignis invited him in to join.

Noctis was just about to start heading into the spare room when he heard his front door slam shut. He ran into the living room to see what had happened when he saw Ignis panting heavily against the door. 

Noctis’ eyes widened.

Ignis’ pupils were entirely dilated, to the point where Noct couldn’t see any green beneath those glasses of his at all; sweat was making his normally gelled and styled hair stick to his forehead in an attractively disheveled look; and his perfectly tailored pants were stretched tightly around a large tent at the front while clinging wetly to his legs from his inner thighs.

The scent that Noctis had dreamed about was finally filling his nose just as perfectly as he’d remembered. 

Ignis’ eyes trailed his every move as Noctis stalker closer. 

“Ignis?” Noctis voice rumbled as his pants grew tighter with every step he took. 

Ignis moaned, godsdammed moaned and it was the hottest thing Noctis had ever heard. 

Ignis reached his gloved hand out for him.

“Alpha,” he whispered and the last of Noctis’ mind shattered into a million beautifully golden pieces.

Ignis was finally in heat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Regis gets a call and everyone's instincts go haywire.


	7. Intermission of a Sort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know that last time I left it off with a promise of heat, but there's going to be a shift in tone starting next chapter that I think warrants an intermission chapter. And what's better than an ominous phone call with a flashback to how things started? I also really wanted to point out how unusual Ignis' bondings are to everyone but him, so hopefully this update can act like a clarification? emphasis? on what's coming up.

_“Something is about to emerge, King Regis. I do not know if it is a sign as an Oracle, or just a personal feeling, but I know a trial is approaching.”_

Regis pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to sigh into his phone. “Is there nothing we can do about it, Lunafreya?”

_“I can prey to the Six and you can watch over him, but that is all I know to suggest.”_

This time Regis did sigh.

_“I’m sorry, my King.”_

“It’s not your fault, Luna. I thank you for bringing this to my attention at all.”

_“…Are they…are they well?”_

The question was whispered so softly, the King almost missed it. “Lunafreya?”

_“Are they... Is Noctis doing well?”_

“He’s taken to being an alpha like a true Lucis Caelum. Please forgive me for my failure to bring him back to visit Tenebrae after all these years, Lunafreya. I’m afraid my fears as a King…preoccupied me.”

_“As have my duties as Oracle and sister to the future Tenebrean King. Do not blame yourself, your Majesty. These years after the war have needed more attention than anyone could have realized. If I may speak ‘off the record’ as Ravus likes to say, I think that you and your family have been through enough hardships in leading a country to peace to warrant some missed visits.”_

Regis gave a mirthless laugh as he was reminded of their conversation. “And as off the record as we can go, Luna, do you believe that my son will be able to pass his own hardship unharmed?”

_“…”_

“Luna?”

_“…From the dreams I’ve had, your Majesty, they all end with a midnight dragon hoarding a silver feather. Sometimes two. There are…many factors that I can take from these images, but for as clear as all my foremothers’ visions were, I cannot determine what this one means. I can only hope that my dreams are of a peaceful ending.”_

“We will do everything to make sure that they are,” Regis said as he clenched his fist and sat back behind his desk with a flop. “I guess we will need to wait for whatever path we need to take emerges first, though.”

Lunafreya gave a bell’s laugh on the other side of the phone. _“That we shall. In the meantime, I will try and ask the Six for any additional information they might share and I shall relay that information to you if it comes.”_

“Thank you, Luna,” Regis said with as much sincerity as he could pour into his voice.

_“Until then, King Regis.”_

Regis could practically hear the Oracle bow on her side before she hung up the call. Regis closed his phone and leaned back in his chair to stare up at the ceiling.

Noctis was destined to face a trial; that was not new information and if Regis was honest with himself, he personally believed that his son would be at the forefront of the battle to truly bring peace to Eos. The king just never thought that it would be so soon into his son’s life that he would have to fight.

But Lunafreya’s warning came at the same time as his own instincts said that something was soon to be amiss. There was the same electricity in the air that was present before the start of the war against Niflheim, but Regis could not place where that tension was centered around.

Aulea, Clarus, and even Innes had all admitted to feeling unease as well, but no one could hazard a guess as to what caused it.

Such misgivings were making Regis’ inner dragon snarl and pace in preparation for a battle. But, would that battle come to Lucis? Or would it be taken to Niflheim again?

Regis also feared that he would not take part in whatever was coming. As much as his skin was crawling, his instincts also felt like this was not his war to fight.

Noctis, Gladiolus, even their friend Prompto will have to face what Regis could not protect they from. And his alpha dragon was livid.

And the thought that Ignis; that fragile and still too tiny dragon taking part in any violence made Regis want to collect the child under his wings and never let go.

***

_Regis paced_ as he heard Aulea set their table as they waited for Ignis and Innes to arrive.

It had been three days since they had last seen the silver dragon, and the King could not hold out any longer. Ever since they had left the young child in his Advisor’s care, both he and Aulea had been wrought with yearning to hold him in their arms again. Each hour that he was gone from their sight was like a knife to their hearts and brought a fear to their dragons.

And just that thought, that feeling of his dragon clawing under his skin to protect a child that was not his, was driving Regis insane.

How could he hold such a bond with a dragon that was not his blood? That he did not sire?

It was a bond that was forged from the moment he looked into those helpless green eyes, and Regis’ human mind could not accept something so wrong; so artificial.

His dragon mind, on the other hand, was more upset that he refused himself the chance to see the child for as long as he had.

Ignis was bound to present as an omega. Fine. Regis could accept that. That born omega was pushing itself out through scents. Also fine. The King’s seen it all before. Ignis’ omega bonding with any dragon that he came into contact with, even if by only invoking another dragon’s urge to protect him?

That is where Regis had his problem.

It was unheard of for a child to immediately force a bond, let alone one that was so one sided, as Ignis seemed content enough to avoid contact with the King and Queen for as long as he already had. Thus, there had to be something…unnatural about him.

Regis’ pacing practically turned into frantic stomping throughout the living room.

The word ‘artificial’ kept creeping back into Regis’ mind and it left an acidic taste in the back of his throat. He thought back to his conversation with Clarus.

If Ignis was an artificial omega, what would that mean? Was he a spy for Niflheim? Someone sent to infiltrate the royal family? Was he a warning that the Niffs had completed their research and were showing off that they could create omegas? Or a runaway, like the first omega to come to them for help?

Would Regis accept Ignis into the Citadel and allow him to be so close to Noctis? Could he send him away?

“Please stop pacing, my love. You’ll ruin the floor.”

Aulea’s sweet voice came at the same time as she wrapped her arms around his waist to stop him from moving. Regis let out a long breath as his hands went down to cover where hers were resting.

“What can we do, Aulea? This one dinner could change the very treaty we have with Niflheim and I don’t think that I can…”

“Then don’t think about anything,” his better half whispered into his back as she scented against his neck.

“You take one look at that boy as he walks through that door and let your instincts dictate what you do with him.”

She nuzzled between Regis’ shoulder blades and a knock on the door vibrated through the room. Regis turned around to place a chaste kiss on his mate before she looked up at him.

“You’ve fought through many battles and have always come out the victor. You’ve raised a son who adores his father and could not love you more if he tried. Your instincts have never steered you wrong before. Please don’t doubt them now.”

She took a step away from him and ushered the King to open the door. Regis took a deep breath before he grabbed the handle, then gently eased the door open.

“Good…good evening, your Majesty.”

Ignis’ bright green eyes and shy smile were the first things that greeted him.

Regis’ mind calmed and his heart swelled again.

“Innes…Ignis…please, come in. We’re so glad to see you again.”

***

Regis had gained an honorary second child that day and the King had never regretted it.

Ignis had proven himself to be as loyal to Noctis as any Lucis-born dragon could ever be, even went beyond that, and his position locked inside their family was welded into place.

Regis also figured, he thought with as much of a smirk as he could muster, that Ignis would soon change from an adopted son to an official one if the looks and scents he and Noctis constantly shared this past week were to be speculated on.

Noctis had always wanted to take Ignis as a mate, and now the time was approaching that they would finally bond.

And, soon enough, the next generation of Lucis Caelums would be on the horizon.

Regis couldn’t wait to see what their children would look like, beautiful as Ignis and Noctis were, and he could only imagine what mischief they would bring to the Citadel.

Considering that new babies were still heavily celebrated in Insomnia, and any grandchild Regis had would be treated to the largest celebration Lucis would ever see.

But before any of that could take place, Noctis had to complete the trial the Astrals had laid out for him.

Regis rubbed his eye where a headache was building. Maybe he could go to the Crystal and see if it showed him anything useful. The magic had fallen asleep after his father’s death, but Regis could still hope that the old rock could still grant him something in this time of fragile peace.

He had no Oracle of his own, but maybe he could still be of some use to help Noctis before the danger bore down on him.

Regis picked up his phone and called Aulea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for the shortness, but I thought it conveyed everything I wanted to say without needless fluffing. 
> 
> Next time: explicit heat. I'm talking someone take my computer away from me, it's getting too hot.


	8. Premature Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this one took a while to churn out. I hope it was worth the wait. I had so much fun writing the sexy times that I had to keep reminding myself that there was actual plot that needed to be added. Whoops. Noctis and Ignis finally get together, so just know that this chapter is highly EXPLICIT. If that's not your thing, feel free to skip to the ending. Please enjoy the update!

Noctis’ rut was on the cusp of his mind before Ignis had arrived back home, but after that first whiff of his scent, Noctis’ dragon was triggered into full rut.

The shorter instantly reached for Ignis, pulled him into his arms and immediately began to cover the omega in his scent.

The omega in Ignis probably wanted to mate in the living room after he and Noctis had grabbed each other, but Noctis was grateful that the Advisor in Ignis was still able to poke through the haze of heat to be the voice of reason.

“Noctis,” Ignis had panted out as the prince was rubbing his neck all over Ignis’ front and working his way to his scent glands. “Noctis, not here.”

The alpha instantly straightened at hearing his soon to be mate in distress and Noctis looked up into Ignis’ green eyes. “Where do you feel safe?”

Noctis saw Ignis reach behind and lock the front door, he again thanked the Six for Ignis’ thinking before Noct lost his mind to the alpha again, then cooed as Ignis took his wrist and led him to Noctis’ room.

The nest; Noctis had already forgotten. 

Ignis’ dragon thankfully hadn’t, and the taller went down onto the bed gracefully. He began to purr as he moved around through all the clothing and blankets that had had over a week to collect the scents of both of them and Ignis was basking in it.

Noctis watched in pride as Ignis burrowed around the nest he had made, that they had made together, and a deep growl emanated from his chest at the sight of Ignis straightening up on his knees to start peeling away his suit jacket. Ignis threw a glance over his shoulder to Noctis when the jacket was halfway down his arms.

“Will you join me?” he asked with a seductive purr and Noctis dove in now that he had permission.

The shorter tried to rip off the rest of Ignis’ clothing, but the other ‘tsked’ at him. 

“I may be in heat but I will not forgive you if you ruin my clothes, Highness.”

Noctis sheepishly took the removed jacket and threw it as carefully over the arm of a nearby chair as he could. Ignis still glared at him as he took off his glasses to safely place away on the side table and Noctis tried to whine in appeasement. 

“I don’t think you’ll need these for the next few days, at least, Iggy. You can handle a few wrinkles right now.”

Ignis rolled his beautifully uncovered eyes before Noctis pulled him backwards into his chest and rubbed his clothed cock over Ignis’ ass. Ignis moaned.

“Wouldn’t you rather focus on this instead?” Noctis whispered into Ignis’ ear. 

Ignis froze, then let out a tiny laugh. Noct huffed.

“I’m sorry,” Ignis laughed harder and crumpled forward on the nest. “I just…I’ve imagined this so many times and I never thought that you’d try and be so…so amorous.” Ignis continued laughing with such a bell-like laughter that Noctis couldn’t help but crack a smile down at him.

“Well…I…Gladio says that stuff to Prom all the time.”

When Ignis was able to control his breathing again, he turned onto his back and stared up at Noctis through disheveled hair and sparkling eyes.

“And you think that Gladio is who I want to hear right at this moment?” Ignis teased with a smile.

Noctis growled and leaned down to steal a kiss. “You better not,” he rumbled above Ignis’ lips when he finally leaned away to breath.

Ignis’ smile turned from playful to something soft. “Never,” he promised and leaned his head up to give a chaste kiss.

Noctis nuzzled Ignis’ chin. “So…you’ve thought about this a lot, huh?”

Ignis’ face erupted in a magnificent blush and he turned his gaze away.

“Well, I…”

Noctis ground his hips into Ignis’ and Ignis’ breath stuttered. 

“You’re all I can ever think about during my ruts,” Noctis confessed after a few sensual rolls of his hips. “What you’d look like lying on my bed, your long legs spread open to fit me. What you’d smell like in the throes of your heat.”

Noctis pressed his nose against Ignis’ scent glands at his neck.

“You’re even better than all the dreams I’ve had of you.”

Ignis growled as he gripped Noctis’ head and forced it up to meet him in a kiss. While his mouth was distracted, Noctis’ hands moved down to unbutton Ignis’ pristine shirt. Noctis nudged at Ignis’ arms when all the buttons were popped to try and get Ignis to remove his shirt.

The bottom dragon stiffened suddenly and refused to let his shirt budge for a moment. Noctis kept tugging gently as he continued to kiss Ignis deeply until the other finally relented his grip. Noctis pulled back from the kiss and licked at Ignis’ cheek.

It took a few seconds before Ignis hesitantly let the fabric fall off him as he tried to keep his focus on Noctis’ eyes.

The prince looked back with all the love he could give, then sat back up in order to stare down at his prize. Ignis, however, kept his arms covering his chest.

And Noctis saw red. 

His mind flashed back to the first night at the hospital that Ignis was taken to when they first met. He’d seen the bruises covering the teen’s arms and had heard the therapist’s recollections of the damage Ignis had somehow sustained, but it never really connected in his mind that someone had once actually hurt Ignis. Intentionally, unapologetically hurt him. And there, right in front of Noctis, were the results of that hurt.

All along Ignis’ body were white lines of healed scars that crossed over themselves along pale skin. Some were faded, barely noticeable things that merged back into the creamy paleness of Ignis’ normal skin tone, but others were stark white; blinding with how out of place they were against the flesh they marred.

Noctis gave a rumble that started from deep in his chest as he tried to urge Ignis’ arms down so he could fully see what was being hidden. Ignis whimpered slightly and Noctis cooed in reassurance until the bottom dragon was able to keep his arms at his sides.

Noctis traced the scars with as light a touch as he could possibly give.

There were a total of five thin lines that across both of Ignis’ dusty nipples; a crooked X that covered his right one, and three parallel lines on his left. And an uncountable amount of lines that all blended together over his stomach area, to the point that it looked like someone had once haphazardly sliced the skin into ribbons without a care as to what harm they were causing. Ignis’ pants were still on, but Noctis could see the tops of some jagged, uneven puckers of skin that began at the highest point of Ignis’ hips and followed the curve of Ignis’ thigh. 

Each set of scars told a different set of stories with how they were all unique in shape and size, suggesting that they were all caused by different objects.

Or weapons.

Noctis didn’t realize that he was practically snarling until he concentrated on the soft cooing Ignis was trying to calm him with. Ignis’ hands had moved from his side into Noct’s hair and he was lovingly running his fingers through Noctis’ black strands as he said sweet nothings.

“It’s alright, your Highness. They don’t hurt at all. I don’t even remember how I got any of them. I’m sorry they’re so ugly. I’m sorry I can’t have a prettier body for you.”

Noctis shot his head up at the last one.

“Don’t you dare,” he grunted out as he stared Ignis down. “Don’t you dare say that you’re ugly. This body is yours, and it is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Ignis looked at him with shocked, disbelieving eyes.

Noctis kissed him passionately as he tore off Ignis’ pants and underwear; Ignis’ reservations about keeping his clothes intact be damned.

Ignis whined in the back of his throat and positively yelped when Noctis’ fingers trailed through the slick that had gathered in between his thighs. 

Noctis only needed a second to sit up and rip all of his own clothes off before he returned to kissing Ignis. 

Now that they were both naked, his rut-addled dragon was trying to make itself known again. 

Just a few more minutes, Noctis promised himself as he gave another kiss to Ignis. He needed to deal with what was in front of him first before he could give into his rut.

Noctis pulled away from Ignis’ mouth with reluctance, but immediately traveled his lips down the other’s neck, all the way until he reached the first scar on his chest.

Noctis looked up through his eyelashes. 

“I want to hunt and kill whoever was the one that did this to you,” he said with a deadpan voice, “and if I ever get the chance, I will maim them until I can lay them at your feet and you are content with their remains. Then I will crush their bodies underneath me until they are nothing but dust and blood on my claws.”

Ignis was moving his jaw but no words were able to make it through his mouth. Noctis could feel Ignis growing even harder for him though, and Noctis was proud of his ability to impress his wanted mate.

“But even though I want their blood to soak into our land for laying a single filthy finger on your precious body, I will never find anything about you to be ugly. Those…beasts,” Noctis could not snarl the word out harsher, “that harmed you have not marked you. Only I’m allowed to mark you. They simply made you more beautiful because you survived and are here with me.”

Ignis’ eyes were large and glassy as Noct took hold of one of Ignis’ hands and kissed each individual finger, as if that alone could prove just how much Noctis loved him.

“Noctis…” Ignis whispered and tugged the prince up with his still captive hand. Noctis followed willingly as he was pulled into another searing kiss.

“Make love to me,” Ignis said against Noctis’ lips, then nuzzled against his ear. “Mate me,” he begged and Noctis could not hold his dragon any longer.

Ignis gasped when Noctis shot down between his legs and the prince nudged them apart in order to lay comfortably. Noctis’ blue eyes stared at Ignis’ soaking hole and couldn’t help himself from going down and licking a long stripe right over it to finally, finally, drown his senses in that heavenly slick that has teased his thoughts for so long.

The taste was more than Noctis could ever hope for. It was rich and heady, like Ignis’ natural odor after a really intense workout, and slightly sweet all rolled up into a perfection that almost brought Noctis to tears. 

He slurped with all his might, his tongue lapping over and in that clenching hole, needing to take in as much of that ambrosia as he could. His pushed his tongue deeper, thrusting it in and out rhythmically until Ignis cried out above him. 

Noctis looked up.

Ignis was panting heavily, his chest rapidly moving up and down with each breath he desperately tried to take in, and his abdomen was covered in a white fluid that Noctis felt compelled to clean up. Ignis had tears in his eyes as he looked at Noctis and let out a broken keen when he reached for Noctis’ face. 

“Please,” he whimpered and his back arched when Noct licked up his to his chest, collecting as much cum on his tongue as he could, until he finally reached and latched onto Ignis’ nipple. 

“Noct!”

Noctis suckled the nub into a tight peak as one of his hands played with the opposite one. The free hand went back down and teased Ignis’ entrance open. The slick that was still gushing out allowed his fingers to easily glide inside Ignis’ body.

By the time Noctis was done sucking the one nipple, Ignis was a trembling mess as he tossed his head from side to side. Noctis crooned at him to get his attention.

Ignis whimpered back.

“Please, Noctis. More. I…I need…”

He turned his wet green eyes onto Noct and the prince instantly went up to kiss away the tears that overflowed and left a trail along his cheeks.

Noctis’ fingers inside Ignis’ body spread out before he added a third to help stretch. But Ignis’ omega was craving even more, and his body opened up quickly to accommodate the third digit. Noctis went ahead and added a fourth, but even that was quickly sucked in.

Noctis moaned into Ignis’ neck.

“My hand is almost entirely in you, Iggy. I’d read about…but I didn’t think your body’d take me in so easily. You’re hole’s sucking me in so nicely, it’ll have no problem taking in my knot.”

Ignis howled when Noctis began thrusting his four fingers in and out quickly. 

“Yeah, you’ll take my thick knot so nicely. It’ll plug you up so good, even these velvet walls that are opening so easily won’t allow any cum to leak out. My cock will drive so deep into you, it’ll shoot straight into your womb.”

Ignis was openly crying now as he begged. “Please, please.”

“I’ll cum so deep in you, again and again. I’ll please you with my cock until you are fully satisfied and swollen with my cum. You’ll look so beautiful, spread open on my knot and filled so completely.”

Ignis screamed as he came over himself again, but still whimpered as Noctis moved his fingers some more inside.

“Noctis, alpha! I need you! I need your thick cock inside me, filling me up with your seed and your knot. I need to be knotted by you, only you, until I can’t take it anymore. I want you tied to me, so you’ll never leave me for any other omega!”

Noctis snarled and removed his fingers. Ignis wept at the loss, then howled as Noctis finally thrust inside. 

This is the only place I need to be, Noctis thought to himself when he began thrusting his hips with a punishing rhythm. Inside his omega, pleasuring his mate.

Ignis wrapped his arms around Noctis’ neck and held on as Noctis thrust into him. Their movements were so intense that the bed was shaking with them; thumping against the wall with every thrust Noctis gave. 

“Please, come inside me!” Ignis wailed as he peppered Noctis’ face in kisses. “Please, give me your knot and come deep inside me. Mate me. Breed me!”

Noctis howled at that and gave a few more exquisitely intense thrusts as he grabbed Ignis cock. Ignis howled as well and came for a third time. His release was so powerful that some of his cum even made it up Noct’s body.

Ignis’ hole squeezed delightfully around Noctis’ dick and was the last push the alpha needed before he came. The prince was able to push his knot passed Ignis’ rim and fully settled it inside as he shot his release into Ignis’ womb. 

It took everything Noctis had, but he was able to avoid biting Ignis’ scent glands and bonding him by biting his own wrist.

When Noctis came back to himself, he was leaning against Ignis’ chest and Ignis was purring into his ear. Noctis looked up and smiled at the omega.

“That was…” he started, but couldn’t find the words to describe just how he felt.

Ignis nodded. “It was,” he agreed easily, and Noctis was positive that the other was able to understand him despite his lack of vocabulary. 

The two were going to be stuck together for who knew how long, but Ignis was able to grab a towel from the side and clean the worst of the fluids off them. Once that was done, Noctis maneuvered them to more comfortably lie in the nest and reverse them so that Ignis was lying on Noctis’ instead. 

Ignis ran his finger in mindless patterns across Noct’s chest. 

The motion was putting Noctis to sleep so he used his hand to gently guide Ignis’ head down. 

“Rest Ignis.”

“I’ll need to call someone to let them know that we’ll be…indisposed for a time.”

Noctis scrunched his nose. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll shoot Gladio a text in a bit. It’s still early.”

“One pm is not early, your Highness.”

Noctis pushed Ignis’ hair away from his eyes.

“Go to sleep, Iggy. I’ll tell him.”

It was a real testament to how tired Ignis actually was that he readily accepted Noctis’ command and fell asleep on him soon after.

***

When Noctis woke up, Ignis was gone.

Even Noct was surprised by how quickly he got out of bed.

“Iggy?!” he called as he pushed the door to his room open, and from his spot he could see Ignis standing in the kitchen cooking.

“Ah,” Ignis was startled when Noctis vigorously opened the door. “Good evening. I’d thought I’d make us some dinner.”

Noctis sighed in relief and his dragon rumbled in happiness at seeing its mate preparing food.

Ignis is so pretty, wearing nothing but a sweatshirt as he moved around the space; Noctis couldn’t help but shuffle his way closer. He tried to grab Ignis from behind, but the taller man sidestepped him. 

“I’ve already had a quick shower, Highness.” Ignis flushed bright red when he realized that Noctis wasn’t wearing any clothing. “If you could please take one as well and get dressed, the food should be ready once you’ve freshened up.”

“Iggy,” Noctis complained but was still shooed out of the kitchen.

Noctis could admit, after fifteen minutes standing underneath a shower of water, it was nice to not be sticky all over. The prince quickly dried his hair, put on some loose pants and returned to the main room.

Ignis was sitting at the kitchen counter and smelling the sweatshirt he was wearing. Noctis grinned when he finally realized that it was one of his. Ignis caught him staring and blushed.

“I…apologies. This was the first clean thing I could find and, well, my heat was nagging at the back of my mind, but this helped to calm it. I think I can last through dinner until I go into that mindset again.”

Ignis was so cute whenever he was shy. And it was made all the better when he took to hiding his face with Noctis’ clothes. 

Noctis noticed that he still wasn’t wearing his glasses and smiled as he sat at the place setting made for him.

He barely gave the food a thought as he continued to stare at Ignis.

“No problem, Iggy. You look good in my clothes.”

Ignis scoffed but peered up through his still down bangs. “They are a bit small on me, though. This only worked because of how oversized it is on you.”

Noctis trailed his gaze up and down what he could see of Ignis. That sweatshirt was one of his older things: something he only really wore after workouts with Gladio or when the weather was too cold for just a shirt but too hot for a full sweater. On Noct, it was stretched out enough to hang off his shoulders from all the washings the thing has had over the years, but on Ignis it was just pulled enough at the neck to expose his collarbone yet fitted around his chest and upper arms. 

The sleeves were just long enough though to half cover his hands as Ignis fiddled with his coffee cup.

“It’s perfect on you,” Noctis said dreamily and leaned his head on the palm of his right hand to better observe his mate.

Ignis blushed again and tried to push up his glasses. His fingers twitched once they realized that his specs weren’t on his face, then went back to hold his cup. “Eat your dinner, Noctis,” Ignis settled on saying.

Food was the last thing on Noct’s mind, but his stomach decided to rumble at that exact moment so he picked up a fork. The food was delicious, as always, and even though Noctis wasn’t hungry he was able to finish his plate quickly. 

Ever the retainer, Ignis was instantly ready to take the dirty dishes to the sink. Noctis made to help, but Ignis refused to let him up from his chair.

“It’s been a long week, Highness. Let me take care of these.”

Noctis could feel the itch starting under his skin again at Ignis’ growing scent and his dragon began mentally hissing at seeing his omega work so hard after a good mating.

Not his, Noctis had to keep reminding himself as he bit the inside of his cheek. No bonding.

But his dragon brought up a good point as he watched Ignis clean up after dinner. Ignis always took his role as Advisor so seriously, it was hard to get him to relax. Even after they had just had the best, and first, sex of their lives, Ignis was still pushing himself to fulfill his job. 

“Noctis,” Ignis said and Noct immediately looked up from where he was glaring mindlessly at the faucet. Ignis was leaning his back against the sink and chewing his lip lightly as he stared at Noct. The prince stood up.

“Thank you,” Ignis said suddenly as Noctis walked closer, enough to be able to breathe in Ignis’ scent but not to touch him, “for following my request and not bonding me.”

Noctis blinked as he came back to himself. “I…you asked me not to?”

Ignis blushed and nodded. “I did, and I still hold that desire, but…my heat seems to make me say things that I would not normally say otherwise.”

Just thinking about the things Ignis said was making Noctis’ rut claw at the back of his mind. It wasn’t overwhelming yet, but being so close to Ignis wasn’t helping Noct to keep a sane mind. 

His scent was so beautiful, finally mixed in such a carnal combination with Noctis’ own scent that Noct couldn’t help but take in a deep breath of it. The memory, not imagination, of Ignis on his back and screaming such wonderful things while hanging off the alpha’s knot was intense. ‘Mate me. Breed me!’

Noct tried to shake himself to keep his mind in the present. 

“Yeah it, it can do that. You don’t want to know the things I’ve said during rut before,” Noctis tried to joke but the way Ignis’ eyes flashed with desire made his groin tighten. The omega in him was probably just as close to giving into his heat as Noct was to his rut, and Noctis wasn’t sure how long they could both keep their minds.

Ignis licked his lips. “Yes, well. I still want to thank you for sticking to what was agreed upon instead of what I said during. What I will end up saying. I just, don’t want you to regret an accidental bonding because of our bodies’ instincts.”

Noctis had been creeping closer to Ignis all while he was talking, but the hand he had reached out to caress a cheek froze in midair. 

“Regret a—Ignis, I won’t ever regret bonding you. Not now, not when you allow me to.”

Ignis pressed his face into Noct’s outstretched hand. “So you say now. Your thoughts won’t be so agreeable once our seasons pass.”

Noctis growled and pulled Ignis into his embrace by his waist. “My dragon chose you. We are meant to be together.”

“I’m the only omega you’ve been surrounded by your whole life. Your alpha may think what it wants—” Ignis rubbed himself against Noct’s body. The head of Ignis’ cock was beginning to poke out from underneath the sweatshirt and in his rubbing, Ignis’ length started knocking against Noctis’ own hardened erection.

“I’m your alpha!” Noctis roared and thrust against Ignis. His sweatpants didn’t allow for enough friction, but Ignis keened as the material scratched against his naked skin. 

Noctis knew that there was more to this conversation to be had, damn his rut for distracting him so fast, but for the life of the prince he could not concentrate on anything besides the body in his arms. Ignis wasn’t much better, but he had probably fallen into his heat mindset before Noct had.

Ignis purred the more Noct moved around him. “My alpha. My dragon wants you so badly.” He grabbed Noctis’ face between his hands and looked down into his eyes. “You’ll stay with me until you find a proper Lucian mate, won’t you?”

Noctis only heard the words ‘my alpha’ and surged up into a brutal kiss. The prince bit at the soft lips under his own, forced them open to receive his tongue and plundered the warm mouth he found as Ignis readily surrendered himself to the kiss.

Noctis pulled them out of the kitchen and removed the sweatshirt Ignis was wearing. He tossed the garment aside after quickly thinking of what to do with it. There were no warm enough spaces good enough for Ignis in there, but Noct doubted that they could make it back to his room. 

In their haste, Ignis tripped backwards over the living room couch armrest and fell onto the cushions with a bounce. He looked up at Noct’s face with fevered green eyes and swollen pink lips, then trailed his gaze down the alpha’s body. He settled his attention on the tent highly pitched in the pants and shuffled around until he was kneeling in front of it. 

Ignis cooed as he rubbed his face against Noctis’ covered cock, then peered up into Noctis’ blue eyes. 

“Go ahead,” Noctis encouraged and took Ignis’ head in his hands. The blond man wasted no time in mouthing against Noctis’ length.

Noct moaned and gently began rocking back and forth. The wet patch Ignis was making on Noct’s pants was an amazing feeling, but not enough when the back of Noct’s mind knew what pleasures the omega’s warm mouth could give when he actually took him in.

Noctis pulled back from Ignis with the intention of tearing off his pants, but Ignis whimpered when his treat was taken away.

“Alpha,” he whined with tearing eyes. “Was I not doing a good job?”

“My mate!” Noctis rumbled and bent down so he could ravage those lips again. His hand reached back to trail along Ignis’ spine until he was able to grab ahold of one of Ignis’ round cheeks and squeeze. Ignis jumped in surprise but began moaning when Noctis trailed his fingers in between his crack to collect the slick already drooling out and onto the couch.

“I need your perfect mouth on me, on my bare cock. Your teasing was too much for me to handle.”

Noctis wasn’t sure if Ignis heard him or not with how the omega was trying to push himself against Noct’s fingers, but it was fine. With a few pokes, Noctis was able to determine that Ignis’ hole was still nice and open from their last mating and he pulled his fingers away to taste the slick that coated them.

Ignis whined again at the loss. Noctis captured his gaze as he stood back up at full height. 

“Will you lick me hard so my fat cock can pleasure you again?” Noctis asked after he’d cleaned his fingers completely. The smell and taste of Ignis’ slick was driving him insane, but he wanted to reward Ignis for being so good to him before he sheathed himself in his body again.

Ignis’ eyes lit up and he immediately scooted closer to Noctis’ straining cock. He took a few kitten licks before sucking the full thing in his mouth and Noctis screamed at the sudden warmth.

“Fuck! Ignis!” 

Ignis pulled back, then pushed forward; setting a rhythm that Noctis was quickly losing himself to. Ignis’ mouth was better than Noctis had ever imagined. The warmth was incredible, and the slight pain of barely scraping teeth was bringing him closer to the edge than Noctis had expected when he mentally prepared for this moment.

The suction was so good, Noctis tossed his head back as he thrust shallowly into Ignis’ mouth. He could feel his knot expanding and Ignis tried to take it in too. The omega came close; his lack of a gag reflex allowed him to deep throat the massive cock easily, but Noctis didn’t want to finish like this. 

With massive effort, Noctis was able to tear himself away from Ignis’ mouth. Ignis’ tongue was fully coated in Noct’s precome and Noctis moaned at the sight of his glassy-eyed Advisor lustfully looking at his dripping cock with need.

“Come here,” Noctis’ voice was husky with desire and Ignis was quick to obey. He stood up and walked within the circle of Noctis’ arms when the prince opened them in invitation. Noctis gave the omega a hard kiss, then maneuvered him to lean over the couch armrest with his ass on full display.

There was so much slick running down Ignis’ legs. The sweet aroma of pure omega permeated throughout the room now that Noctis was concentrating on it, and Noctis groaned. Ignis wiggled his ass in invitation and Noctis couldn’t control himself anymore.

With a quick thrust in, the prince was fully sheathed inside Ignis’ tight body and the two howled in pleasure. 

How Noctis was able to resist this for so long, the prince wasn’t sure, but he promised himself that he would never leave Ignis’ ass alone again as he began thrusting. Noctis leaned over Ignis’ back to nip at his Advisor’s ear.

“Do you feel how big my cock is for you?” Noctis asked between bites. Ignis could only moan. “You make me this big, this full. My cock is yours for your pleasure, made only to please you. To fill you up with my knot and cum so intensely that no other alpha would ever dare to even look at you.”

Noctis’ hands held onto Ignis’ hips as he pistoned faster into the warm hole that was taking him in so well. The prince squeezed tighter to the point of bruising at the thought of another alpha taking Ignis away.

“You’re mine. No other can have you, Ignis! My mate, my omega!” 

“Alpha!” Ignis cried out and his hole clenched. He reached back to thread his fingers through Noctis’ hair. “I only want you, Noctis! No matter what anyone says, I’ll always only want you! I’m your omega; you’ve always scented me as yours. I want to prove that I can give you a child, that I can be a good mate! Only give me your knot!”

Noctis’ knot had already ballooned and those words were enough to send Noctis into a frenzy. The thought of Ignis heavy with his child, how beautiful he’d look round with his pup, forced Noctis’ hips to move even faster until he was able to push his knot through Ignis’ rim.

The omega screamed in pleasure once the knot was inside and Noctis gyrated his hips to make sure that he could still pound against the special spot inside Ignis. The two were so gone on the image of Ignis pregnant that neither realized that Noctis had reached down to grab Ignis’ bouncing cock.

Ignis cried out at the added pressure and arched his back as he came all over the couch. Noctis wasn’t far behind and with a few more thrusts he was coming inside Ignis’ body. 

Noct didn’t have his wrist to bite this time, so he risked sinking his teeth into the meat of Ignis’ shoulder. Even though it hurt his heart to deny his instincts, Noctis refused to break Ignis’ trust and made sure to stay as far away from the other’s scent glands as he could to avoid bonding.

Some blood shot into Noctis’ mouth from his bite, but the alpha held on until he had fully emptied inside the other. Ignis crooned and nuzzled against Noctis’ cheek until Noctis let go.

The alpha left an impressive set of teeth marks on the omega’s shoulder that were already starting to bruise underneath the small pooling of blood that had gathered. Noctis winced when he saw it and whined into Ignis’ neck.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered repeatedly and wrapped his arms around Ignis’ chest.

Ignis just kept crooning. “It’s of no consequence. I’ll gladly wear this mark if I cannot have your bonding one.”

The two stayed connected as they were over the armrest as they comforted each other while the remaining warmth of their bodies cooled into something more manageable. Noctis clung to Ignis desperately, even after his rut calmed and his knot began deflating. 

The alpha didn’t realize that he was being moved until a blanket was placed over his back. Noctis lifted his head from where it was leaned against Ignis’ chest and saw that they were now reclined correctly on the couch. Ignis’ hand carded through his hair and Noct looked up at him.

Ignis’ eyes were sad when he smiled down at Noctis.

“Go to sleep, Highness.”

Noctis’ eyelids were so heavy even though he wanted to talk about…something. The last hour was quickly becoming a blur in Noctis’ mind and he couldn’t help but give in to Ignis’ warm hands as he laid back down atop Ignis’ body.

***

It took a week for Noctis and Ignis to get over their rut and heat. A week full of nothing but mating and domestic living in Noct’s apartment and the prince felt like he was living a dream. 

He got to hold Ignis whenever he wanted, got to scent him as often as he liked with no one to tell him otherwise. He fell asleep with the omega on top of him, him over the omega, inside the omega. There was no surface in the apartment untouched by their essences and Noctis’ dragon had never felt so at home in his den. 

The week was perfect.

But the second their dragons were calmed and sated, Ignis pushed them to return to the Citadel. 

When they arrived, the two were immediately greeted by the King and Queen. Noctis watched as Ignis bowed to his parents, then fled down the hall without so much as a look back at Noctis. His dad watched Ignis run away with confused eyes, then turned to look at Noctis.

The prince could only watch in hurt despair as Ignis’ back grew smaller. 

Ignis had seemed fine throughout the week with Noctis. Maybe a little more reserved after Noctis had bitten him that first night, but he still responded well to each of the alpha’s advances whenever they got the urge to mate and he was lighthearted whenever Noctis caught him cooking their meals or cleaning up after a mating.

Maybe now that his mind was clear again, Ignis was embarrassed with his first heat. It was the only explanation Noctis could think of. The prince couldn’t blame him, not with the memory of how Noct had avoided him after his first rut.

So the alpha begrudgingly accepted to giving Ignis some space despite how intensely Noctis yearned for nothing more than to gather the other into his arms again.

His dragon, however, could not accept the distance and made sure to take out his anger in training.

And the more time that passed without a word from the omega, the more his dragon was convinced that Noctis had done something irreparably wrong to Ignis.

“You’re being careless!” Gladio had growled out at Noctis during one of their training sessions as Noct threw his dragon form at the Shield. The larger dragon trapped Noctis under his claws. “If you were in a real fight, you’d be dead.”

Noctis spat and hissed as he tried to squirm his way free. Gladio simply pushed more of his weight onto the black dragon.

“It’s been a week already. Your hormones should have mellowed out by now. And you even had a partner for your rut.”

Noctis’ whip-like tail lashed out and caught Gladio on his side. The larger grunted and narrowed his eyes.

“Do you regret mating with Ignis?”

“No!” Noctis yelled and managed to push Gladio off him. The black dragon quickly got to his feet and began stalking around the other.

“Then what’s wrong?”

Noctis growled and continued pacing around.

Gladio flicked his thick tail against the training room floor and his golden eyes watched Noctis intensely. 

“Is Ignis still not talking to you?”

“Shut up!” Noctis yelled and pounced. Gladiolus was easily able to avoid getting hit despite Noctis being faster. 

The brown dragon sighed and changed back into his human form. Noctis’ dragon eyes glowed in anger but he stayed as a dragon.

“Change back.”

“Not until you tell me what happened.”

“Change back!” Noctis screamed and charged at Gladio. The Shield didn’t move and he was bowled over by the bigger body. Noctis’ claws pushed heavily against Gladio’s chest and were shallowly digging into the human’s skin, leaving small pinpricks of blood to pool against Gladio’s bare chest.

Noctis growled harshly when Gladio did nothing to defend himself.

“Noctis!”

The prince turned at the call of his name and saw Prompto running up to them. The blond fell to his knees once he reached them and tried to pull Noctis’ hand off his mate. 

“Prom, get out of here,” Gladio growled and began to genuinely try and push Noctis off him. Prompto just looked up at Noctis.

“Buddy, I’m gonna need you to lift your hand,” Prompto said with a small quiver in his voice and even though Noctis was slow about it, he did finally let Gladiolus up. Prompto helped the Shield to sit upright and sent a thankful smile to Noctis.

“You…okay now, Noct?”

Noctis just stared at the two for a long breath, but when Prompto called out to him again, he shifted into his human body. 

“So you listen to him and not me,” Gladio scoffed and Noctis saw the thump on the back of the head Prompto gave him. The exchange normally would have made him laugh, but his heart only constricted in seeing how his bonded friends’ interacted.

“He’s the pack beta,” Noctis said unemotionally as if that explained everything. 

Prompto beamed a smile and Noctis could admit that he felt a little better.

Gladio slung his arm around Prom’s shoulders as he glared at Noctis. “Now that you’re talking again, want to explain what today was about?”

Noctis glared right back. “It’s none of your damn business.”

“It is when I can’t do my job because you’re too thick headed to take training seriously.”

The prince scowled and turned his head away.

“No, none of that. You’re talking right now or so help me—”

“You’ll what?” Noctis challenged and stood at his full height. Gladiolus may still be huge even when sitting on the ground, but Noctis was his pack’s alpha and he wasn’t about to be challenged by his own Shield. 

Prompto, still kneeling between the two alphas, held his hands out to come between his pack mates. He looked back and forth between them.

“I can go get Ignis,” the blond offered before they could start fighting in earnest. 

At the sound of the omega’s name, Noctis immediately flinched back and hunched in on himself. He refused to meet the two pairs of eyes on him.

“Leave him out of this,” Noctis mumbled. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gladio raise an eyebrow.

Prompto carefully crept closer on his knees until he could grab Noctis’ hand to pull him down onto the floor. Noctis resisted slightly, but eventually gave into his friend’s wish and sat crossed legged across from Gladio. 

Prompto kept holding on to his hand and was content to have the three of them sit in silence until Noctis couldn’t handle it anymore.

The prince let out a shuddering breath and covered his face with his free hand.

“I think I messed up,” he mumbled into his palm as he looked away from his two friends.

Prom squeezed his hand but Gladio was the one who spoke carefully.

“What do you mean?” the Shield asked.

Noctis shook his head.

“I know I messed up,” he groaned and flopped back to lie on the training mat. “He asked me not to bite him, and I did anyway,” Noctis moaned out and took his hand out of Prompto’s grasp.

The other two shared a look.

“You gotta give a little more detail, Noct,” said Gladio.

Noctis waved his hand. “My rut. Ignis asked me not to bite him, and I accidentally did during one of our matings.”

Prompto’s breath hitched and Gladio’s eyes hardened. 

“Did you force him into a bond?” the Shield asked gruffly.

Noctis shot up. “Of course not! I didn’t bond bite him: I would never!”

“Then why do you think you messed up?” Prompto questioned with a tilt to his head.

“There’s nothing else I can think of I did that would upset him,” Noctis whispered. He brought his knees to his chest and laid his head on top them. “I bite his shoulder. I didn’t mean to…I just. I got too close to his neck and probably freaked him out. He was just too nice to tell me during our week together. What else could have happened except that I ruined it?”

Noctis felt a hand run up and down his back and he peeked up to see Prompto sitting very close to him. The other’s violet eyes were filled with pity but Noctis was too distressed to comment on it.

“Did Ignis seem upset with you after that moment?” Gladio asked as he leaned back on his arms. “Was he sad or angry with you afterwards?”

Noctis hesitated but shook his head.

“Then why are you beating yourself up?”

“I thought things were going so well, Gladio,” Noctis ground out as he looked at his Shield. “I thought things were great and that Ignis wanted to be mates even if we weren’t bonded yet. And the first thing he did afterwards was avoid me for a week. How could I have read things so wrongly that I thought everything was perfect? What kind of alpha am I that I can’t even tell when my ome—my wanted mate is in pain?”

Gladio couldn’t answer and Noctis hid his face in his knees again. 

“No wonder he doesn’t want to be around me,” Noctis whispered and Prompto kept rubbing his back. 

The three sat in silence until their knees and backsides ached. It had to have been a good few hours of companionable silence before Gladio was the first to stand and stretch the kinks out of his back.

“You think you’ve spent enough time moping now?” he said as he cracked his neck. Noctis glared up at him and Prompto scolded him in shock.

“What? You’re the prince and an alpha. You can’t feel sorry for yourself forever. If you think you’ve messed up, it’s your job to suck it up and apologize. Especially to your mate.” Gladio smirked down at the two and offered his hands to help them up. “Give Ignis his space, then beg his forgiveness. Easy.”

The prince doubted that it could be that easy, but Gladiolus’ easy smile and Prompto’s calming scent at his side almost made he believe that it could be as simple as the Shield made it to be.

Noctis hesitated, but grabbed Gladio’s hand when Prompto urged him to. The blond did the same and whooped when the Shield easily pulled them up onto their feet. 

Noctis’ friends both smiled at him and Noctis couldn’t help but offer a small smile back.

Gladio laughed and clapped his back. “There’s the pain in the ass I know. You’ll be just fine.”

For a moment, Noctis really did feel like things would be okay. He would wait for Ignis, give him the time he needed, then have a long talk with the omega about how sorry he was for betraying his trust and tell him just how much he meant to Noctis. The prince couldn’t see his life without Ignis ever again, so he would do everything he could to make it right between them.

He would fix whatever he had broken between them. He had to.

Noctis swore he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I think that my writing is too subtle and I worry that certain details will get lost in the text. Other times, I think that my writing is too obvious and I'm bashing everyone over the head with information. Maybe someday I'll find that perfect middle ground of holy writing.
> 
> Next time: Ignis' life at the Citadel has been nothing but shy smiles and hard work, from Noctis' point of view. But what has Ignis experienced as an outsider to the Crown City when Noctis isn't around to see how people treat him? Everything's fine when you're a servant to the throne, but get too close to the royal family and people tend to have a few things to say about it.


	9. Reactions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone remember when I said that I had planned this story to start at a different place than the beginning? Somewhere between last chapter, this one, and the next was where I had originally thought I'd start, but somehow it became this huge project that I had no idea would become a thing. And then this chapter needed so many reworks and edits, and became super long that I ended up breaking it up so that it wouldn't be obnoxious. I hope the length makes up for me missing last week though.

“Mr. Scientia, may I have a word with you?”

The sudden voice stopped Ignis mid step as he was walking towards his next meeting. He checked the watch on his wrist and subtly sighed. Ignis was running a few minutes early to the council budget meeting and figured that he could afford a few minutes of conversation. 

Did he want to? No. But would it look bad on his part if he ran away after visibly showing that he had heard someone calling to him? Most likely. 

Ignis turned around and placed a smile on his face.

“Ah, Mrs. Whitmaul. How man I be of service?”

The slightly middle-aged beta dragon looked Ignis over as if he were an ill-themed wall display before she clapped her hands and tilted her head to the side.

“I hope I haven’t caught you when you’re busy, Mr. Scientia.”

Ignis’ lip twitched but he kept his smile.

“It’s just that I’ve been trying to reach out to you for a while and you haven’t returned any of my meeting requests for the past few weeks. It’s good to know you get out of your office from time to time.”

The Advisor side of Ignis made a show of checking his watch but the royal image-holder side of Ignis had to laugh lightly at the jab.

“Yes, well. Being an Advisor doesn’t really allow me to accept many meeting requests without the approval of the crown first in order to avoid squandering my time when it could better be used on something else.”

“Speaking of the crown,” Mrs. Whitmaul interrupted, casually ignoring Ignis’ own poke back. “They are exactly who I wished to speak about. As you are so close to his royal Highness, I was wondering if the King has made any progress on choosing the prince’s future bride yet.”

Ignis’ back straightened and he had to stop himself from baring his teeth at the woman. “What gives you the impression that I am privy to such information, ma’am?”

“Well,” the beta dragon tapped her red manicured nail against her lip, “you are one of those closest to the royal family. Some might even suggest that you could be called adopted by them, can you believe the rumors? Anyway, with how close you are to the prince, I’d had hoped that Noctis or his Majesty had said something to you about his upcoming betrothal?”

“Prince Noctis,” Ignis corrected, “has not brought anything up to my attention, no.”

Mrs. Whitmaul’s lips curled minutely before her expression returned to a neutral smile. “If that’s the case, then may I ask if you could bring up the report of my darling Amelia the next time you see the prince? She’s just presented as an omega that would be absolutely perfect for carrying the future heirs. I always said that she’d be the perfect omega with how her father is part of the Kingsglaive, and now she is.”

The woman gasped as if she remembered something.

“That’s right! You haven’t presented yet yourself, have you Ignis? Maybe you can spare the King’s precious time by just taking up the interviewing process yourself and speak with my daughter. Even though you smell like the prince, your natural unpresented flavor will be perfect for hosting the in-between for the two.”

Ignis ground his teeth together so hard that he thought he might have heard a crack, but he perfect mask of indifference stayed in place as he checked his watch for a third time.

“All potential bonded mates to the prince must be submitted to the King’s Advisor and approved by him before they can be brought to selection for interviews. Now if you may excuse me, I have a meeting I must attend.”

Ignis turned on his heal and began walking away, but the beta called out before he could get too far.

“Ah yes, my apologies. It’s just that she’s a purebred Lucian omega and I thought that her blood would push her ahead of some other candidates that possess a less…desired background.”

Ignis froze for a moment, then continued on as if he hadn’t heard.

***

Since Ignis had arrived in Insomnia, the question of his background had popped up on numerous occasions. Mostly, they were in written complaints that Ignis had seen in a few of his adoptive father’s reports on his desk, but those were quickly shoved to the side by Mr. Scientia before Ignis had the chance to read them fully, so they were easily forgotten as Ignis aged. 

After Noctis had presented and his scent was more prominent on Ignis’ body, though, the complaints reemerged in intensity as both written letters to his Majesty and whispered gossip whenever Ignis walked passed. They ranged from criticisms of his non Lucian features, his light hair and heavily accented voice, to accusations of his appearance at the Citadel that claimed him a Niflheim spy sent to destroy Lucis. 

The people who had once tolerated Ignis’ presence beside the royal family had gone to openly detesting his very being once they realized that Noctis’ dragon favored him as a mate. Noctis’ presentation also brought about the council’s desire to find him a ‘proper’ mate, as they called it, and the floods of dragons that were opposed to Ignis were now sending request after request to submit their omega children in the hopes of them becoming the next royal consort to the line.

The whole mess had made Ignis feel ill, but Noctis’ continued desire to scent Ignis, along with Prompto and Gladio’s assurances that Noctis couldn’t care less about the rumors, calmed the silver dragon. Slightly.

And that was all after the phone call, the one Noctis had made to Ignis on his first night of rut that caused Ignis to tremble with desire whenever he thought about it. The way Noctis’ voice had sounded, the breathy moans he gave whenever Ignis called his name was practically ingrained in Ignis’ mind.

Ignis was adamant that he had never known true desire until he heard Noctis cum for the first time. 

After Noctis had ended the call, Ignis had stared at his phone in shock. The blood in his ears felt almost electric as it left tingles running through his body that all seemed to culminate at his cock. 

Ignis had been tempted, so tempted to just reach down and grab at himself until he was making the same sounds Noctis had made, but the newly presenting alpha had ordered Ignis to sleep and the silver dragon wanted nothing more than to obey his command to prove that he was a good dragon, that he would be a good omega for Noctis to have and use as he pleased.

Ignis had gone to bed that night harder than he had ever been in his life, and he had had the most beautiful dreams as he slept.

After that, Ignis had wanted nothing more than to see Noctis, to smell him and scent if the desire that had resounded in the prince’s voice was also evident on his body. But Noctis had avoided him for three days after he emerged from his rut and by the time Ignis had finally seen him, the prince was on suppressants and the desire in his scent was not to be found.

Had Ignis been wrong? Had Noctis only called him because he had known that Ignis would have been awake? Was the unpresented dragon only a placeholder for the prince’s rut addled mind to latch onto because he didn’t have a mate to call its own yet?

The looks Ignis had seen as he walked into the Citadel every morning after Noctis had scent marked him at his new apartment were filled with such open hostility that Ignis felt the need to scrub his skin raw whenever he returned to his rooms at night to clear away any hint that Noctis was ever on him.

“He’s unpresented and yet has the nerve to ask the prince to scent him every morning.”

“Just because he’s the alpha prince’s Advisor, he thinks he can go around and act like he’s above everyone else.”

“I heard that he’s not even Lucian born. He admitted to being born a Nilf.”

“It’s true!”

“Just take one look at him. He’s no more Lucian than the Nilf dragons we were defending against during the war.”

“His scent is sometimes that of an omega though.”

“If he thinks that he can steal prince Noctis by pretending to be a natural omega, then he has another thing coming.”

“He cannot be the prince’s consort.”

“He cannot be allowed to be the prince’s mate.”

“Any bond they have must be broken immediately.”

“That fake Lucian! That fake omega!”

Once Ignis had begun feeling abnormalities in his body that his doctor had predicted were the comings of his first heat, Ignis had immediately asked to be put on birth control.

He’d wanted a child, someday, but not without properly planning for it. And definitely not because of his first heat. And even though Ignis wasn’t sure at the time if he wanted a partner or not for it, the silver dragon refused to take any chances by not being prepared.

The pills, though good for suppressing his increasing pheromones and scent release, did nothing to help curb the urges his body had whenever Ignis was around the prince.

Noctis would pull Ignis into his bed, after Ignis had broken down and accepted to moving into the same building as him for simplicity’s sake, and curl on top of Ignis’ body whenever he got the chance. Ignis was unable to resist the alpha’s charms and begging eyes that always asked for a cuddle, even though it meant that he would have to go through observation hell by all of the dragons at the Citadel later; but it was worth it. Noctis was always worth anything Ignis had to endure.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about my presentation. And I’ve decided that I wouldn’t mind having a partner for my first heat.”

Noctis had been ecstatic at his words, so eager to please that the alpha had accepted to not bonding Ignis during their time together.

Ignis had known that it was an unfair request to ask such a young alpha as Noctis who had only been through three ruts up to that point; but just as with the pills, Ignis could not afford to take any chances. He was already taking a risk by asking Noctis to mate with him; Ignis couldn’t imagine the uproar if he ended up stealing the prince for himself from under the council’s noses.

But after the details were ironed out with Noctis, a blushing Ignis had gained the secret approval from the King and Queen to mate their son, and Noctis’ attempted nest for him was finally completed, Ignis felt as excited for his first heat as he could ever imagine being. The sexual tension was always in the air during the following week whenever Ignis and Noctis were alone together, but they were surprisingly good at keeping their hands to themselves during that time. 

Even Noctis, who Ignis had seen to be showing signs of his approaching rut, was surprisingly well behaved.

And Ignis couldn’t have asked for more.

Until the morning Ignis had awoken sweating profusely, with his entire body oversensitive to even the sheets he had wrapped himself in during the night. He knew that his heat had arrived.

Ignis had scrambled out of bed and got as dressed as he could manage with his sensitive skin and drove all the way to the Citadel to turn in a stack of files he had completed early to his adoptive father. Ignis hadn’t had time to do so the previous day and figured that since he was still coherent enough to walk straight that he could manage to deliver the work by himself. 

It was still early enough that even Mr. Scientia hadn’t come in yet and Ignis’ skin was burning too hotly for him to be able to wait, so he had just left the files under the door for the man to find later. 

Ignis had practically run through the hallways to return to his car, but on the way he had had to pass the throne room. Despite the early hour, there were still voices coming from inside, one of them the King’s, and Ignis thought that it would be prudent for him to speak with the King about how he would be gone for the next few days against his better judgment. 

But when Ignis approached, he heard an obnoxiously loud voice from behind the heavyset door. 

“This matter has been pushed back long enough, your Majesty.” Ignis recognized the voice to belong to the beta dragon Dirgewood who led the council during all of the meetings. “Prince Noctis needs a bond mate now that he has presented, and we cannot afford to wait any longer for the selection process to begin. You must bring him around to start selecting a mate.”

“And if he already has a mate in mind?” Ignis heard the soothing voice of King Regis respond neutrally and Ignis’ heart leapt into his throat.

“The prince needs a proper Lucian omega to be his bond mate, not the Nilf boy you rescued and has attached himself to the prince.”

“Ignis Scientia will not be spoken of like a stray,” the alpha’s voice boomed and Ignis flinched from both the loudness and from the words spoken before.

“Of course not, your Majesty. We’re just concerned that Scientia cannot perform the proper duties needed to by a bonded mate as he had admitted himself that he is not Lucian born. He hasn’t even presented yet; isn’t that enough cause for concern and necessity to question his ability to birth children?”

The King was silent for a long moment and Ignis had to lean his whole body against the door to hear his whispered words.

“My son will have the final say in his bond mate. I agree that the selection process has been pushed aside by his other duties, but now that he has been presented for two years, I can persuade him to look into it more seriously. I’ll run this by him later today, if he hasn’t fallen into his scheduled season yet, and let him know that a consideration must begin.”

Ignis pushed away from the door and collided with the wall on the other side of the hall. 

Noctis would need a proper mate, something Ignis had always known would have to come to pass. And knowing how the Lucian royal line always chose from a pool of Lucian candidates to keep their magic strong, Ignis had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he would obviously never be picked for that role. 

But knowing about something and hearing it become a reality was completely different and Ignis wasn’t sure that he could handle what was to come.

He had offered himself, his first heat, to be with Noctis so that he could at least have one iridescent memory to coat over the pain of seeing Noctis bond another, but now that the time had come, Ignis didn’t think he could just let Noctis go after their first seasons’ mating.

Ignis wasn’t sure that he could step aside and offer Noctis away after he felt what it would be like to be held in those arms and wrapped in Noctis’ scent so intimately.

Ignis got back into his car and drove home. 

He would tell Noctis that he was having second thoughts about his heat. He would say that he decided that he wasn’t quite ready to mate just yet and then walk away.

He would walk away from Noctis before he could ever have him and that would be that. Noctis would move on and find the perfect bond mate in no time.

He would walk away.

But the more Ignis thought about it, the more his body responded. The heat under his skin was practically an inferno of pain that pulse at his scent glands and instructed him to walk faster to the place where he knew an alpha was waiting for him.

His alpha. His Noctis. His,

By the time Ignis got to the top floor, he was running out of the elevator and towards Noctis’ door. He quickly grabbed the keys from his pocket and opened the door with a bang. 

There was a split second that Ignis was aware enough that he should turn back and run to his own room, instincts and wants be damned, but at the first smell of Noctis’ pheromones that coiled around his nose once he entered, Ignis was lost. 

He shut the door behind his back and leaned against it for support.

Almost instantly, Noctis had run out of his den to greet him.

“Ignis?” he asked and Ignis’ mind fizzled out into a blissful hum at the sight of Noctis’ form.

“Alpha,” he panted and from there Ignis gave into his desires and his heat mind was in full control.

***

A solid week had passed since Ignis had come out of his first heat and he didn’t think that he had gotten to sleep once.

“This concludes this week’s conference of district negotiations. I look forward to seeing you all again next week.”

Ignis was already packing his things before Mr. Dirgewood’s final dismissal, but he was far away enough from the dragon’s gaze that no one cared to call him out on it. The younger Advisor was practically out of his chair before anyone else even had enough time to collect their notes on the meeting when a hand wrapped around his wrist and Ignis jumped.

Mr. Scientia looked at him with a grim expression. 

“Stay please, Ignis. I have a few things I’d like to speak with you about.”

Ignis glanced around at the people still moving around them, but no one even looked their way.

“We may move somewhere else, if you’d like.”

“No, here is fine,” Ignis appeased. The conference room was rarely used outside of the weekly conference, so he knew that once everyone left that they would have complete privacy for whatever his adoptive father wanted to tell him.

Ignis was already fidgeting with his shirt collar when it was just him and Mr. Scientia waiting, but the omega broke out into a cold sweat when he realized that the King hadn’t moved from his chair either.

Once the three dragons were left alone, Ignis was pulled closer to the King and made to sit in the chair closest to him.

King Regis looked over his clasped hands at Ignis as he leaned over the table with his elbows resting on the wood and Ignis wanted nothing more than to sink into the tiled floor and avoid the conversation that was coming.

Mr. Scientia cleared his throat.

“Ignis,” he started, then coughed into his hand awkwardly. “Ignis,” he tried again with a clearer voice. “I apologize for forcing you into this conversation so suddenly, but it seems no one has been able to catch you for more than five minutes alone.”

That was true, because Ignis had made sure to never be alone with any of the royal family all week. 

The omega had returned to his former rooms inside of the Citadel the morning after his heat had calmed and extensively avoided any area that he knew his friends and adoptive family were known to be. He had also made sure to duck into any unoccupied room or hallway whenever he saw a familiar face turn a corner under the guise of work for just as long.

Though to be fair, he had never gotten as much paperwork done in his life as he had in the past week.

“I have been busy trying to catch up with all my duties that were neglected last week,” Ignis said and tried not to flinch when Mr. Scientia stared down at him.

“Ignis, you’ve done more work this week than I think the entire council has completed collectively. You don’t have to push yourself so hard.”

King Regis huffed out a breath of air and eased his hands into a more comfortable position. With his fingers untwined, though, he was able to gently tap at the back of Ignis’ right hand that was also resting above the desk.

Ignis’ hand jumped at the sudden touch but allowed himself to relinquish the appendage to his King when it was asked of him.

The King gently took hold of Ignis’ hand and turned it over so that the wrist was exposed past the sleeve of Ignis’ suit jacket.

“You’ve become very pale in the past few days,” the alpha murmured as his fingers soothingly caressed the revealed skin. “We have our concerns as to the cause of your sudden over workload. Would you care to ease this old dragon’s worries with what may have started it?”

Ignis’ downward eyes instantly shot up to meet the kind green of the King’s. “It’s nothing,” Ignis instinctually said but bit his tongue when King Regis’ grip tightened on him. “It’s nothing much,” he slightly amended but the stern gaze didn’t leave.

“You’ve been acting strangely ever since you returned from your heat,” Mr. Scientia tried to ease in but Ignis tensed all the same. “We were hoping that you could tell us a little of what happened during that time?”

“Did my son force anything on you?” King Regis blurted out suddenly and Mr. Scientia facepalmed.

Ignis was in such shock that he couldn’t say anything for a moment.

The alpha’s eyes flashed red quickly and Ignis jumped out of his seat.

“No!” the omega shouted without thinking, then instantly covered his mouth with both hands in his disbelief that he had yelled at the King. 

“No?” Mr. Scientia prodded.

Ignis shook his head vehemently. “Noctis was the perfect alpha gentleman. He treated me better than I could have ever asked to be treated during a heat.”

The King eased back into his chair with the tension draining from his body. “Did anything happen afterwards? Something said or implied with his actions?”

“Noctis was perfect,” Ignis emphasized and his fingers twitched in want to go to his unmarked neck.

“Then this week is about…?”

Me, Ignis thought. How I let my heat mind distract me from my duty as Advisor. How I can’t forget Noctis’ warmth and scent as he mated me over and over again. How I yearn to be his omega while I know that I cannot be.

How he was so good to not bond me because I had asked him to. 

Or, because my scent wasn’t appealing enough to him despite his dragon being thick in rut, Ignis’ mind traitorously whispered and the omega bit on his tongue so hard that he tasted iron in his mouth.

“My dragon,” Ignis said instead of all the thoughts that were really swirling in his mind.

Both the alpha and beta men’s eyes widened comically large and they turned to each other in question. 

“Is there…something wrong with your dragon?” Mr. Scientia asked, seemingly having drawn the shorter stick in his mental conversation with the King.

“My dragon is still smaller than what a normal dragon should be,” Ignis said with some truth spilling out in his words. “I had hoped that a few days away from other dragons’ influences would possibly allow my form to grow as long as I was left alone.”

The excuse was weak, but passable, as the two older dragons looked at each other again.

King Regis was the one to speak this time. “Have you spoken to your doctor about that?” he asked and his eyebrows drew together in his telltale sign of worry. 

“I mentioned it in passing when I saw Dr. Cerge last, but he suggested that it could either be my dragon needing more time than most to grow, or that it was simply the way I am built as I’ve always been small for my size.”

Mr. Scientia stood up and placed his hand against Ignis’ back. 

“It is always best to allow nature to take its course on its own rather than force your own outcomes with other means. You isolating yourself is neither good for your dragon, nor your human well being.”

The omega nodded, knowing that the words were true even if the reason they were being spoken wasn’t exactly the source of the problem, but accepted them all the same. 

“Do you think,” the King brought the attention back to himself and Ignis was shocked to see him circling his finger over the desk in a sheepish manner, “you could speak with Noctis sometime soon, Ignis? He’s been a bit of a wreck since you left his side.”

Ignis tried not to obviously wince, he really did, but the knowledge that he had caused Noctis harm of any kind attacked his heart and made him want to plead at the prince’s feet for forgiveness. 

Running away had always been the coward’s route, but the Advisor had felt that it was the best option to free Noctis from the omega’s scents and hopefully clear his alpha mind to see the reason of their impossible bonding. In the beginning. Ignis had very quickly realized that separating himself from Noctis’ side did nothing but harm their hearts and minds, but had continued to stay away as the more time that had passed, the more Ignis felt ashamed at his cowardice until even more time elapsed and the cycle was impossible to break out of.

“I will speak with him,” Ignis promised and the relief in King Regis’ eyes was so apparent that Ignis had to look away. 

Mr. Scientia’s hand moved from the small of Ignis’ back to his shoulder and the older squeezed. “I never asked you this before, but you are on omega contraceptives, aren’t you Ignis?”

The omega felt a blush bloom from his cheeks all the way down his neck. “Yes,” he whispered.

“Good, good,” the beta stuttered out and the only alpha in the room laughed good naturedly. 

“Go speak with my son, Ignis, and please return the Citadel to the environment it was before we had a brooding prince shooting his pheromones everywhere,” the King said as Mr. Scientia practically shoved Ignis to the door.

“I will,” Ignis repeated and was never so glad to escape a room as in that moment. He ran out of the conference room and barely saw his adoptive father plop down into a chair before the King’s happy laughter encased them.

***

Despite what Ignis had promised, it still took him a few days before he was able to build the courage and see Noctis. Every time he gathered the resolve to push back his fear and just go talk to the prince, Ignis would lose his nerve and run straight back to his rooms. 

After the forth time of this, Ignis laid with his head buried in his pillow and hoped that the soft fabric would suffocate him. 

“It’s just Noctis,” Ignis chanted to himself once he finally accepted to breath again and turned on his back to stare at the ceiling. The moonlight shone brightly through his window and Ignis turned his head to stare at the moon. 

Almost three weeks had passed from his heat and the only contact Ignis had made with the prince was a quick text letting him know that he was fine and was simply busy doing Advisor work, which was why he couldn’t return to his home at the apartment. 

Ignis had also sent a message to Gladiolus and Prompto asking them both to watch over Noctis while Ignis was too busy to do so, and then promptly shut off his notifications for any incoming calls or texts that weren’t work related. Ignis had checked his inbox a few times since then and it was filled with multiple variants of ‘where have you been?’, ‘why are you avoiding us?’, ‘Noct’s been going crazy without you’, and the last one: ‘did I do something wrong?’ had Ignis scrambling to unlock the home screen and send the first reply he’d made in days.

‘No,’ Ignis had typed, ‘you were absolutely perfect. I just need to sort out a few things on my own.’

Noctis hadn’t replied, but Ignis had sometimes been able to catch the prince’s scent outside in the Advisor’s hallway that suggested Noctis had been standing around for a good while before leaving. Once there was even a stack of books relating to omegas and how the Lucian royal line had always treated their bond mates with all the love they could give as a truemate pair. 

The books had managed to bring a smile to Ignis’ face with their fairytale-like nature even while they caused his heart to break at knowing that he and Noctis could never be like his ancestors. The gesture was appreciated as well as the knowledge that Noctis was offering him the space he needed to sort out his thoughts.

Now on this night, with the full moon rising in the sky, Ignis still had yet to make a choice and he was utterly sick of himself.

He was an Advisor for Astrals sake! His whole life revolved around making difficult decisions and he made himself look incompetent with how he ran away at the first personal decision he needed to make. It’s embarrassing how easily Ignis crumbled. Pathetic. And all the remarks thrown his way, the scathing looks and points that were sent to him because he had been weak and fallen to his desires couldn’t even be excused as he had left Noctis’ side. 

He was a failure of an Advisor. A failure of an omega. But worst of all, he was a failure to the first friend Ignis had ever remembered having, and that was what drove the stake into his heart the hardest.

Ignis sat up and shuffled to the side of his bed. He had been having trouble sleeping for days now, and this constant self-depreciation wasn’t helping in the slightest.

Maybe some time burning off the excess energy would do some good. It was better than staring at the ceiling, at any rate, and Ignis got ready.

He put on one of his training tank tops and a pair of loose sweatpants, then headed out the door.

Or, at least he intended to head out the door, but before Ignis could take a proper step he tripped over something that was placed at the threshold and fell into the hallway.

“Wha…”

Ignis turned to sit on his rear to take the pressure off his smarting knees and palms and fixed his askew glasses.

“Noctis?”

The prince was still lying on his side as he rubbed at his eyes. The younger dragon yawned cutely from being apparently awoken from his sleep, then pushed himself upright once his sleepy blue eyes caught onto Ignis’.

“Ignis! Ah…” Noctis blushed intensely and averted his eyes. “I, uh, didn’t expect you to come out tonight.”

“Obviously,” Ignis said teasingly, but immediately stiffened once he realized his overly friendly tone. The two haven’t seen each other for nearly three weeks and Ignis instinctually reverted back to how they interacted before? 

“I don’t! I don’t normally sleep outside your room!” Noctis flailed his hands as he tried to explain. “This is just…”

“You sneaking away to be vulnerable to any attack from someone passing by,” Ignis finished with a frown as he realized himself what could have befallen a Noctis sleeping unaware in the open. “Did you even think of what this would look like?”

Noctis flinched. “No one ever comes around here, Ignis. You’re the only one who lives on this side of the complex.”

Ignis narrowed his eyes. “Ever?”

“I mean, because you live alone?” Noctis tried to salvage his over honesty but the lie was dead before it even left the prince’s mouth. 

“How many times have you stayed out here, Highness?”

“Just! A few times. When I know that you’ve already settled for the night and won’t be leaving again until morning. And I normally don’t fall asleep. Tonight I was just, tired.”

Ignis’ eyes softened as he took in the prince’s appearance. Noctis did appear to be ‘tired’, if bagged eyes, dulled skin, and slightly greasy hair could all fall under such an understated category. Noctis’ usually baggy clothes seemed to be even looser than what Ignis remembered as well.

Overall, the prince looked to be a mess and Ignis instantly blamed himself for his bedraggled state.

“Oh Highness,” Ignis sighed and sat up properly. “You should go inside my rooms and sleep on a proper bed. It’s too late for you to be wandering back to your own quarters now. I was just heading out so it’ll be quiet enough for you to rest.”

Noctis’ eyebrows drew together. “You’re leaving? Where? It’s the middle of the night.”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I was hoping to train a bit to tire my body.”

Ignis could see Noctis’ gaze traveling across his body, and after the prince’s gaze lingered on his exposed shoulders and throat just long enough to make Ignis squirm, Noctis looked back up into his face. 

Noctis licked his lips and opened his mouth a few times in a failed attempt to say what was on his mind, then huffed out a harsh breath.

“You just said I couldn’t go wandering by myself. I’ll come with you.”

Ignis blinked. “Well I…you’re a prince, so it’s more dangerous for you.”

“I’m also an alpha who can defend himself if anyone is stupid enough to try anything,” Noctis growled. He seemed to realize his tone too late and immediately looked sheepish. “Sorry. I just meant that…it’ll be better if we traveled together.”

Ignis didn’t hear anything passed the apology; his inner omega was practically swooning at the alpha’s voice of strength like all the damseled consorts from the books Noctis had brought him and Ignis had to give considerable effort to stop the blush that wanted to emerge on his face.

Ignis stood rapidly so that he could turn away and hide his face. “Yes, I apologize as well. It was presumptuous of me to assume anything less. But as that is the case, wouldn’t you prefer to return to your own bed then? Surely you’d like to resume the sleep I’d interrupted.”

Noctis grabbed Ignis’ wrist and Ignis looked over his shoulder to see widened sapphire eyes. 

“Please don’t make me go. I’ll be quiet, if that’s what you want, but please let me stay near you for a little bit.”

Ignis’ eyes widened at the blatant honesty radiating from Noctis’ words and he didn’t have the strength to try and push Noctis away again.

The Advisor nodded and Noctis’ grip tightened as he smiled in relief and thanks.

“Ignis, I—” the prince started and Ignis’ heartbeat revved up to a mile a minute. 

No, he wasn’t ready to have this conversation yet. But if he wasn’t ready now, then when would he ever be? But then could Noctis’ beginning be the push he needed to just say what needed to be said? What was it that needed to be said? Ignis knew that by the end of the conversation, they would no longer be able to be together, officially, but did that mean Ignis could no longer be Noctis’ Advisor? Would Noctis reject him once Ignis said that their mating was a mistake? Where would Ignis go if he was pushed from the Citadel? Pushed from his home at Noctis’ side? 

Ignis was about two seconds away from hyperventilating when Noctis shook his head and tilted it to the side.

“Never mind. You were going to the training rooms, yeah? Lead the way.”

Ignis was so thrown off by the complete opposite scenario that he had going on in his head that he could only nod and begin walking with Noctis still keeping a tight hold on his wrist.

***

“I haven’t seen your presented dragon form yet. I’m kinda excited,” Noctis said as he bounced on the balls of his feet while Ignis stretched on the centermost mat of the training room. 

Ignis huffed as he parted his legs as far as they would go and bent his chest forward until it was flush against the mat. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before. I was overtly small before presenting, and I’m still just as miniature now.”

Noctis didn’t say anything and Ignis turned his head to see why the prince had suspiciously quieted. The prince’s eyes were glazed as he stared at Ignis unabashedly, the raw desire in his gaze was hypnotic and Ignis couldn’t help the unconsciously pleased little shiver that ran through his body. 

No, this was exactly what he wanted to avoid. His body was naturally drawn to Noctis and his omega wished for nothing more than to curl into a more enticing position so as to draw in the alpha that was watching him. 

Ignis felt his spine bend just a little more than necessary as he unfurled and got to his feet, completely outside the control of what his rational mind wanted, but he acknowledged the smug pleasure that burned at the back of his neck when he saw Noctis’ throat bob as he swallowed. 

“Would you time me, Highness?” Ignis asked to return Noctis’ attention to where they were. The prince jumped at Ignis’ voice and scrambled to take out his phone.

“S-sure. Whenever you’re ready.”

Ignis transformed into his dragon and stretched out his wings to ease out the kinks that always appeared whenever he changed. 

Ignis’ presented dragon was one of the smallest that has ever been on record, according to the files Ignis had stumbled upon while working with Mr. Scientia. His just under five foot height put him on par with the shortest horse, and Ignis was embarrassed to say that even Noctis’ human height was taller than him. But what the omega lacked in height, he more than made up for with his twelve-foot length that was primarily made up of his overly long tail. 

Ignis’ body was sleek, slimmer than even Noctis’. But where the prince and Gladio had amassed muscle buildup in their legs and chests, and Gladio’s arms and back and neck, Ignis had barely any definition to his build. He had just enough to keep him from looking lanky and like an overgrown salamander, but not much more. 

The silver scales that covered his body were single toned; possibly with the smallest amount of a green tint to his underbelly, but otherwise the purest silver that sometimes caught the light in such a way that it reflected off him like shards of glass or a mirror. 

Ignis’ wings were thin as silk and were held together by his thin underwire of bones that felt like they could be easily bent out of shape or broken with the slightest hit. 

Ignis had always felt too delicate to be of much use in a fight, and that feeling hadn’t gone away even after he had presented. The omega had hoped that, after hearing so many stories from his friends, that after he presented he would feel more in tune with his body, more at peace, but all Ignis felt after his heat was the disappointment that he was useless as a Crownsguard dragon. 

Ignis couldn’t fight and he was afraid to try flying in fear of his wings literally ripping apart. All Ignis had was his speed and the knowledge that he could run away from practically any danger that threatened him.

What a failure of a dragon he was.

Ignis pawed at the ground, ready to begin his routine of circling the room to time his speed, when he heard something crash to the floor. 

He flinched at the sudden noise and whipped his head to Noctis.

The prince had dropped his phone as he stared wide-eyed at Ignis. The advisor tilted his head in confusion.

“Highness?”

Noctis took a few small steps forward, completely ignoring the phone at his feet, and hesitantly reached for Ignis’ head.

Ignis remained stock still as the other’s fingers gently traced over his jaw. “Highness,” he tried again with a bit more of a rumble building in his throat that suspiciously sounded like the beginnings of a purr that Ignis could not control.

Noctis visibly shuddered. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Noctis said adoringly and continued to pet at Ignis’ face. “I knew you were before, but now…”

The omega in Ignis preened at the attention but the rationale in Ignis made him pull away from the touch. Noctis just hasn’t seen an unbonded presented omega dragon before, the Advisor had to rationalize before his increasingly beating heart literally flew out of his chest, he hasn’t been exposed to the effects of one before.

But for every step Ignis took back, Noctis followed him and whined pitifully.

“Please, don’t run away. I can’t,” Noctis pleaded and shook his head. “I can’t go back to you ignoring me again.”

This was not a conversation to be had like this, Ignis decided. He hopped back a few paces and transformed into his human body again.

“Highness, please. This is no place to for us to speak of this…”

Noctis’ eyes were wet when he looked up at Ignis.

“What did I do wrong?” he cried and Ignis wanted nothing more than to wrap him in his arms and never let go. “I thought that I…what did I do to upset you so much? I’ll apologize, I’ll fix whatever happened, just please tell me so I can make it right!”

Noctis advanced on Ignis until the omega’s back connected with a wall and then leaned his head on Ignis’ shoulder. They haven’t been this close in weeks and Ignis’ nose was instantly assaulted by the scent of heartbroken alpha that Noctis wasn’t even trying to hide. The prince’s arms slowly wrapped around Ignis’ waist in a ghost of an impression of how he used to hold him during their week of season and Ignis’ couldn’t stop the small keen that erupted in his throat at the sweet memory. 

But despite how wonderful it felt to be held by his alpha again, Ignis could not forget the looks of scorn and words of hatred that were thrown to him by the people his prince would eventually have to lead and used his desire, his need to keep Noctis out of such a hateful light to place his hands on Noctis’ shoulders and gently push him away.

Even though the push was light, Noctis fell back as if Ignis had used all his strength to knock him away and looked at him with tears rolling down his face.

“Ignis?”

Ignis turned his head to avoid looking at those grief-stricken blue eyes. “There was nothing you did wrong, Highness. Nothing. How many times have I told you that?”

“Then what happened to make you leave me?”

“I did not leave you—”

“Yes you did! Ignis, you wouldn’t let me anywhere near you for weeks! You still wouldn’t have if you hadn’t left your room tonight and been forced to let me come with you! Is it me? Do you regret mating with me that badly that you’d rather ignore me and pretend like it never happened?”

“Our mating was everything I could have wanted. Do not ever presume that I would ever deny how wonderful that week was.”

“Then what happened?!”

“You chose me!” 

The two of them were yelling by this point, but Ignis didn’t have it in him to care. Ignis’ chest was heaving with how heavy his breathing was and he pinched the bridge of his nose to try and alleviate the headache he could feel building behind his eyes.

Noctis was panting heavily too but didn’t do anything to try and regain his breath.

“What?”

“You chose me,” Ignis repeated much quieter than before. “A non-Lucian born to mate. An unstable omega, to mate. And outside of your family, no one is very happy about your choice.”

“What are you talking about?” Noctis huffed.

Ignis gestured between them. “Us. Me. The council was not happy that you took me of all dragons to your bed and they are not shy in sharing their displeasure. You’re people are not shy in sharing their displeasure.”

Noctis’ eyes narrowed. “You think I care about what they think?”

“You should!” Ignis yelled exasperated. “They are the ones you need to please once you become ruler. Insomnia wants a proper omega to bonded to their King, not some orphan from who knows where without a background from before he was already fifteen. You deserve a proper mate who isn’t a shame to your lineage.”

“If you think I’d take someone else than you as a mate—”

“You will,” Ignis said and at last had the strength to stare Noctis right in the eye as he did. “Your father should have already come to you about choosing a consort.”

Noctis snorted. “He did, and I told him that I already chose.”

Ignis poked Noctis’ chest. “That’s the problem. You cannot choose me. The council will not allow it.”

“They have no say—”

“Your father was able to sway them enough to allow you a choice in the matter. They originally wanted you to be wed to someone of their choosing.”

“Like I’d let them,” Noctis snarled and Ignis huffed in anger. The prince was not seeing the point of the matter, was not listening to what Ignis was saying and realizing how grateful he should be that the King was able to allow him the freedom at all. Noctis could choose anyone to love! Except Ignis.

If only he hadn’t fallen to his heat mind; Noctis would have seen reason eventually if he wasn’t blinded by Ignis’ omega.

If only…

Ignis licked his lips and clenched his hands in preparation for what he was about to say.

“I had decided to not go to you for my heat.”

The prince halted mid step and straightened his back to look Ignis in the eye.

“What?”

The words tasted like ash on his tongue, but he persisted. “I had decided to back out from our agreement that day and had only gone to tell you as much. Unfortunately my heat arrived too soon and I was drawn to stay.”

Noctis’ eyes were the widest Ignis had ever seen and he looked as if he’d been stricken across the face. 

“You didn’t…but you called to me. You wanted me to mate you.”

Yes, Ignis did. But that didn’t make their coupling acceptable in the eyes of the people.

“I did,” Ignis said hesitantly and the small fire that was burning in Noctis’ eyes grew a little again.

“Then why? What changed?”

“I came to see the reality of our positions.” Ignis crossed his arms and held his head as high as he was able while feeling absolutely sick at seeing Noctis so troubled. “I always knew that we could never bond, would never be allowed to have anything outside of a season or two together. It just took me a little longer to see my foolishness in hoping to ever have even one of your ruts to myself.”

“But we are truemates!” Noctis roared and Ignis flinched with how desperately he wished those words to be true.

“Highness, look at me.”

Blue eyes defiantly stared into green and Ignis gave a small depreciating smile when nothing changed. 

“Do you feel any different?”

Noctis wavered, but still tried to push forward. “Maybe it’ll come later. The realization doesn’t always happen immediately…”

“Prompto and Gladio only needed a first glance after Prompto presented to know,” Ignis pointed out. “And your parents’ hearts were so close that they knew they were truemates as children.”

“That doesn’t mean we aren’t!”

“But points very heavily to that conclusion.”

Ignis sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t want to do this to Noctis, not like this, not now, but if the prince refused to see the reality that Ignis always knew was approaching, then the Advisor would cast aside his own wants and bare the burden of truth in order to keep Noctis from any more heartbreak in the future.

Ignis very gently grabbed Noctis’ face between his hands and pulled his attention back up to his eyes.

“I love you,” Ignis kissed Noctis’ forehead, “so very much, but we can never be more than Advisor and prince.”

Then Ignis let Noctis go and walked past him without turning to see the expression on the prince’s face.

***

The next few months were painful; there was no other way of putting it.

Ignis reverted to his station as Advisor and become Noctis’ shadow once more, but he never allowed them to be alone. Noctis returned to his apartment and Ignis still completed his daily assignment of recapping all reports needed to be completed by the prince to him, after he was positive that either the Queen or Prompto was at the apartment, but he no longer prepared his meals or drove him around. Ignis had also taken to consuming daily suppressants after his first heat was over, and thus no longer needed Noctis to scent him.

Out of everything that changed, Ignis decided that he missed the scenting the most.

The Advisor also took to living in his rooms at the Citadel permanently again, which allowed him to avoid Noctis as much as was acceptable, but made Gladiolus a much larger target to miss.

The Shield had pulled Ignis into a deserted room once and tried to question what had happened between him and Noctis, but the prince had found them and physically fought Gladiolus away from Ignis. The disagreement would have quickly turned bloody if not for Prompto stepping in to calm the alphas down as Ignis slid out of the room in hopes of relieving the tension he had created. 

Since then, Gladiolus had taken to glaring at Ignis whenever they crossed paths, but didn’t try to speak with him again.

Poor Prompto did his best to become a mediator for their group, but after the almost fight Ignis had convinced him to simply stay by Noctis’ and Gladiolus’ sides instead of trying to bring the omega back.

Three months of living in a suspended state of nonexistent existence had Ignis’ mental state frayed and left his body ragged, but at least the public opinion eased. Ignis no longer heard the constant whispers of his questionable background wherever he went, the council returned to accepting his position as Advisor without further complaint, and even let up on the King for Noctis’ betrothal to allow the prince more time to himself without the need to search for a consort.

Life was better. Ignis may have been collapsing into bed daily from the strain of his work and the relationships he had forged over the past eight years may have been shattered in the process, but it was better. For the better.

Ignis had to believe that.

Until he absolutely could not ignore the effects on his body anymore.

Ignis had suffered through migraines and back spasms since he first accepted to be an Advisor, and they were pains that Ignis figured just came with the job as it consisted of mostly long nights staring at screens and small text hunched over a chair, so those were nothing new. What was new was the daily nausea that confined Ignis to his restroom anytime between five pm and midnight, along with the cold shivers that overtook him randomly for minutes at a time then disappeared just as randomly as if they were never there to begin with.

Ignis had managed to wave away his symptoms as nothing more than added stress ailments until he fainted during a meeting with the King and Mr. Scientia, who had then taken him to his doctor at the Insomnia hospital. 

When Ignis woke up, he was laying on top of a patient’s bed and his doctor looked down at him with fear and hesitation. 

“Ignis,” Dr. Cerge, the beta dragon who had looked after Ignis since the first day he arrived in Insomnia and never once treated him with anything but respect as one dragon to another rather than a doctor to a child, said his name with pity. “I thought you were taking your birth pills.”

“I am,” Ignis said as he raised his arms to cover his eyes against the synthetic lights that blared against his vision and intensified the headache he already had upon waking. What type of question was that to ask him? Ignis vaguely remembered Clarus Amicitia lifting him off the ground and carrying him to a car, but his mind was not nearly awake enough to understand what the doctor was saying to him.

“Ignis,” Dr. Cerge said more forcefully and Ignis peeked under his arm to look at the man, “how long ago was your first heat?”

Ignis managed to push himself into a sitting position, arms shaking and all, and propped his back against the wall to help keep him upright. “About four months ago, roughly.”

“And when did you begin taking your suppressants?”

“Less than a week after?” Ignis had no idea where the doctor was going and the questions were not helping his headache.

“Have you felt any symptoms of an approaching heat in the past month? Just the startings of one?”

“No.” Ignis’ voice came out just as hesitant as the doctor’s had been when he awoke while his slowly churning mind began to catch up with the conversation.

Dr. Cerge sighed and rubbed at his temple. 

“And you’re sure you are taking your contraceptives? You haven’t missed any days before or immediately after your heat?”

“No,” Ignis pressed as the blood in his veins quickly chilled.

“Doctor…”

“Did you have sex at any point after your heat?” the doctor deadpanned and Ignis grew pale.

“I would never betray his Highness like that!”

Dr. Cerge stared straight into Ignis’ eyes for a long minute, then blew out a heavy breath. The beta took a moment for himself before he looked back at Ignis and offered him a small smile.

“There is no question about it, then. Ignis Scientia, you are four months pregnant with the next heir of Lucis. Congratulations.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally reaching the main plot point I had based this whole thing off on. Sheesh. 
> 
> Next time: Ignis takes the information about as well as you'd think.


	10. And Aftereffects

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't mean to be as mean as I am to Ignis, it just kinda happens.

“There is no question about it, then. Ignis Scientia, you are four months pregnant with the next heir of Lucis. Congratulations.”

Ignis just blinked owlishly at the man before he closed his eyes.

“That’s not possible.”

“I’m afraid so. With your suppressants, your heat cycle should have reduced from every month to every three or four. Seeing as you were due for only your second heat, it should have triggered already by this point.”

“But I was on the birth pills you gave me well before my heat. That should have been enough.”

“In rare cases, the pills do not work as intended for certain omegas. Unfortunately, it seems like you are one of the cases where they failed.”

Ignis opened his eyes. “What are the chances of failure?”

“Excuse me?”

“The percent. What is the percent of failure for those pills?”

The doctor hesitated. “About five percent.”

“Then what makes you so certain that I am pregnant?!” Ignis tried to keep his voice as calm as he could, but some desperation managed to leek out at the end of his question.

“When you were brought in, I took a blood sample from you and asked the King and Mr. Scientia a few questions before they left about any symptoms they saw from you. But I’ll ask you now to answer yourself; what ailments have you experienced recently that had led up to the point of you fainting?”

“I’ve been busy,” Ignis growled and clenched the paper-thin blanket he was sitting on in his hands. “The exhaustion I’ve felt is due to nothing but that.”

“And your sudden paleness?” The doctor tried to soothe with his beta voice and managed to get Ignis to unclench his fists. “Mr. Scientia mentioned that you had bouts of nausea nightly and sudden shivers that could not be pinpointed to any reasonable cause.”

“Stress,” Ignis repeated. When he felt his hand unconsciously drift towards his stomach he forcibly wrenched it away and held it down underneath his thigh.

“Stress could be a factor,” Dr. Cerge agreed as he reached for a file on the side table. “But then I got your blood results back. You are highly malnourished for your position, iron deficiency is the highest cause for your sudden bouts of anemia, but you also scored a twenty-five on your HCG, that is, our human detection method for possible pregnancies, and such a high score confirms that you are, indeed, pregnant.”

“I do not have any physical signs,” Ignis tried to reason, but even his voice was low and too pathetic to have any real argument in it.

“Male omegas don’t tend to show until at least the fifth month,” the beta crooned to try and calm Ignis down from his near hyperventilation. “Their children tend to be smaller than what a female omega’s would be, or even beta male pregnancies. And with how much stress you are already under, it’s no real surprise that your child hasn’t had the opportunity to grow properly.”

“I can’t be pregnant,” Ignis whispered and covered his mouth with the hand that wasn’t still trapped under him. “I can’t.”

“But you are,” Dr. Cerge said as he slowly stepped closer to the omega. “You are and it’ll be fine. I can help you tell his Highness if you wish, and now that we know we can properly moderate your child to make sure it’s healthy and stable.”

“I can’t!” Ignis yelled and jumped off the bed to avoid the man’s touch. 

Ignis couldn’t be with child, he just couldn’t. He had taken every precaution to make sure that he wouldn’t be. He was on contraceptives, it was his first heat, he and Noctis hadn’t bonded so the chance of an accidental pregnancy was supposed to be even lower, and Ignis had begun taking suppressants as soon as his heat was over to reinforce the birth pills’ effectiveness. How could he have done all of that and still managed to fail in keeping himself infertile?

How was it possible that he had failed in being a failure of an omega?

Ignis started when a hand touched his shoulder and looked up to see the slightly taller beta stare at him in concern. The hand on his shoulder couldn’t seem to keep still and Ignis realized that he was trembling.

“Ignis,” Dr. Cerge whispered to try and keep the omega from freaking out again, “do you want to keep the child?”

Ignis’ omega practically screamed at the thought of losing his baby. Of course he wanted to keep it; it’s not its fault that Ignis had failed to be barren. 

Ignis nodded and allowed himself to rest a hand on his stomach this time.

“…I do,” he whispered and looked away from the doctor. 

The beta kept up his stream of soothing scent as he breathed. “Would you like help in alerting his Highness or…?”

“No.” Ignis’ voice was hard. “I will tell him myself.”

The doctor nodded and squeezed his shoulder. “Very well. I will prescribe some iron pills to help with your anemia and I expect you and the prince to be back here in no more than two days time. We must look closer into your and your child’s health and determine how to proceed with your pregnancy.”

Ignis continued nodding without really hearing anything the man said and only realized that he had stopped talking when he offered a small bottle to Ignis.

The Advisor took it numbly and looked back into the doctor’s eyes.

Dr. Cerge smiled gently at him. 

“We’ll get through this together, Ignis. You don’t have to be by yourself anymore.”

***

When Ignis returned to the Citadel, he was swamped by the Queen and Mr. Scientia with the King and his Shield looking on from behind them.

The Queen tugged Ignis into her arms and hugged him tightly.

“Oh my sweet boy, what did the doctor have to say?”

Ignis had to bend a little to lean his head on her shoulder, but did what he could to rest his forehead on her. He took in the calming scent of the dragon that he considered as a mother and peered up to look at the males in the room. 

Mr. Scientia had so much worry in his eyes that Ignis felt immediately guilty for concerning him with his problems. 

King Regis, though, Ignis felt guilty for a whole other reason than just concerning him. The King had done so much for Ignis; took him in when he was a teen who literally landed on his doorstep without so much as a care as to what his people would say or think of him. He took Ignis into his home, allowed Ignis to interact with his wife, get close to his son, offered Ignis an entire job of protecting his son without asking for anything in return. And what did Ignis do to repay his kindness?

Steal away his son’s affections and tarnish the Lucis Caelum reputation by carrying an illicit child of a prince who hadn’t even taken the throne yet himself. 

Ignis could not burden him with this problem. He couldn’t bring himself to burden any of these people with his problem.

He couldn’t let Noctis know about this child and ruin his title by taking Ignis as a shotgun bond mate just because he had unknowingly sired it. Ignis would not allow Noctis to fall with him because of Ignis’ failures to keep away.

Ignis took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he raised his head off Queen Aulea’s shoulder.

He put on as genuine a smile as he could muster to try and ease the three people who cared for him most in the world.

Three of the four.

“Dr. Cerge just said I was fatigued,” Ignis said with his soft smile. “He suggested that I take a vacation or rest somewhere away from the Citadel to try and bring back my strength. Perhaps,” a plan was forming in Ignis’ mind and he didn’t have much time to polish it off before his mouth opened again, “perhaps it would be best if I could have a few days out of Insomnia to help relieve the stress. Visit Galdin Quay or the like, he said.”

The Queen was quick to release her breath with a hand held up to her chest. “Oh, that is wonderful news. You have been working much too hard for someone so young, and you definitely deserve a vacation after all you’ve done for us.”

Ignis tried not to flinch with those words and held up his smile weakly. 

“Yes,” King Regis nodded slowly as he stared into Ignis’ eyes. “Yes, a rest is exactly what you need after you fainted so spectacularly in the conference room.”

Ignis blushed.

“Maybe we can even get the prince and your friends to go with you,” Mr. Scientia said with a joyous smile. “I’m sure we can set something up for your four that won’t take more than a few days of planning.”

“Actually,” Ignis said quickly before the other dragons could get attached to that suggestion, “may I ask if I could go on this trip by myself? A few days away from…everything might do wonders for my mind and it might allow me to…calm a few things within myself before I come back.”

The King and Queen looked at him with sympathetic but hesitant eyes. They glanced at each other and held that silent communication most truemates were able to do.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own?” Queen Aulea asked as she bit her lip. “I worry that if you go alone, you won’t be able to receive help if anything goes…not according to plan.”

“I’ll take one of the Kingsglaive to escort me!” Ignis held up his hands. “It would definitely be safer if I had another drive with me. Maybe drop me off for a day or two at a resort and return to pick me up afterwards.”

“Do you think that is fine, Clarus?” the King asked his Shield who had been silent throughout the whole exchange. 

Clarus stared at Ignis for a long moment, then turned his attention back to the King. “I think it’ll be fine. I would prefer if he traveled with Gladiolus and the rest, but I cannot deny that he does look to need to the time away. I can get Ulric to escort him to Galdin in the morning.”

“That settles it,” King Regis clapped and smiled his fatherly smile at Ignis. “You deserve your time off, something a long time coming I’m now realizing. And hopefully after you come back you won’t look so pale as you have for the last few weeks and your mind will be a little clearer without all your work dragging it down.”

Ignis understood that beneath his smile and well-wishing words, the King was also saying that he hoped that when Ignis returned, Ignis would be in a better headspace to make up with his son.

As far as Ignis knew, Noctis never said a thing about their final conversation to his parents, and Ignis never understood why. He also couldn’t understand why the royal heads hadn’t confronted Ignis for emotionally harming their son yet, but Ignis couldn’t deny the relief he always felt whenever they still spoke to him as if he did nothing wrong.

Their oblivious and overly kind natures tore at Ignis’ heart every time he saw them send a smile his way, to the point where he wanted to scream out for them to punish him in some way to make up for his sins against them and their trust, but his relief was still there nonetheless.

Ignis lowered his head. 

“Tomorrow morning will be fine. That allows me enough time to get my things ready and packed. Thank you, all of you, for allowing me to go on this trip at all. I’ll make you proud when I return.”

***

Clarus had said that he would get a Kingsglaive to escort Ignis in the morning, so Ignis only had a small window of opportunity to enact his plan.

When Ignis returned to his room, he packed his essentials and as many clothes as he could fit in a travel bag, and waited for night to fall. 

The sun sank, the night rose, and Ignis escaped his room without anyone noticing.

He quickly got to his car and threw his bag in the back seat. When he made it to the guards’ lookout parking station, he nodded to the watch there, told him that the prince had called for his presence to help with a report that was due in the morning with a sheepish smile, and drove off without being asked another question.

Ignis made it to the city’s exit roads in record time and had to quickly decide which turn to make towards which destination he wanted to go in. Left would take him to Galdin Quay, a little less than a days’ drive from the city; or right, which would take him in the opposite direction and far away from where anyone would expect him to go.

Ignis turned on his right blinker and waited for the light to change.

He was well out of view of Insomnia’s city lights before he could consider just how terrible of a person he was.

***

By midday, Ignis needed to stop for gas at a resting point. He pulled up to the next coming station just as the gas needle fell to its bottom notch and heard a low whistle once he got out of the driver’s seat.

A girl with blond hair almost the brilliance of Prompto’s came to greet him.

“Well lookit this pretty thing. We don’t get too many of these beauts out here on the road.”

She nodded her head at the hood. “Crown issued?”

Ignis nodded. 

“You must be some high ranking city boy if you have one of these then.” She bounced her way closer to Ignis and the omega tried to keep down his blush at the revealing outfit the other had on. The girl shot out her hand. 

“The name’s Cindy. Nice to meet’cha.”

Ignis took Cindy’s hand delicately, but her grip overpowered his as she enthusiastically shook their hands up and down. She smiled widely and blatantly looked Ignis over. “What’s your name, handsome?”

“Ignis,” Ignis said and couldn’t keep off a small smile of his own. Cindy’s happiness was infectious and Ignis immediately got the impression that she and Prompto would make fine friends. He could have done without the once over, but there was no threat to Cindy’s scent, so Ignis ignored it.

“So Ignis,” Cindy cocked her hip and rested a hand on it, “what can I do for ya?”

“Just needed to refuel. I still have a bit of a ways to go.”

“Where’re you heading to, if you don’t mind me askin?”

“I…” Ignis hesitated and Cindy tilted her head. “Away from the city. I’m on a bit of a holiday.”

“Roadtrip, then?” Cindy said. “Sounds fun!”

Ignis hummed and looked away. By now, the King should have been alerted that Ignis was gone, so the Advisor was hesitant to share too much with any dragon so close to Insomnia. Call him paranoid, but he wouldn’t put it past the King and Queen to set up a countrywide search if they put their minds to it.

The thought that every dragon was against him suddenly made Ignis’ hair stand on end and he subconsciously placed a hand over his stomach. 

He forwent his usual castle clothing of fine pressed suits and crown issued uniforms in order to avoid suspicion and notice, but maybe taking his car out on the open road was just as, if not more, damning in highlighting his presence. 

Ignis bit his lip and saw Cindy look down to his hand.

Surprise crossed her features.

“You’re pupped?” 

Ignis jumped in surprise as he forgot that he wasn’t alone as Cindy stepped closer to softly sniff his shoulder.

The omega took a step back, not used to someone so unabashedly coming up to scent him, and Cindy stayed where she was. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him.

“I can’t smell that you’re carrying. You tryin to keep it a secret or somethin?”

Ignis narrowed his eyes. “What makes you think I’m with child?”

Cindy held up her hands and took a small step back. “You, ah, you’re holding your tummy like it’s something precious. And it’s faint, but I can kinda smell that you’re an omega. You’re…unbonded.”

The flash of pity in her eyes made Ignis’ internal omega growl and he had to push up his glasses to hide the snarl that wanted to form on his lips.

“Yes, well, that is neither here nor there as I am most certainly not with child.”

Cindy crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him. “Now listen here, just because I’m not from yer big ol’ city, doesn’t mean that I’m a dummy. I’ve seen my fair share of pregnant omega stances in my time, and ya were definitely doing it right now. An’ my nose works just fine, thank you very much, even if ya are on blockers.”

Her eyes widened even larger and Cindy unfurled her arms. “Wait a minute here, why are ya on blockers when you have a little one growing?”

Ignis blushed slightly at the reprimand and cleared his throat to stop himself from attempting to lie again. “I’m afraid I don’t know what blockers are.”

“Blockers!” Cindy gestured as if that made it any clearer. “To keep down your scent.”

“Suppressants?” Ignis guessed and Cindy blinked. 

“Ah, right. I forgot the city calls ‘em something different.”

“Suppressants aren’t meant to hurt a child, only mollify a dragon’s scent and push back their seasons.”

“That’s what I mean! Why are ya covering your pregnant pheromones? Even if ya don’t want your mate to know, ya can still use yer scent to get help from us alphas out here,” Cindy said as she pat her chest and gestured to the surrounding area. “In fact, most dragons are always wanting to help out any pupped ones out here. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn’t help ya out.”

Ignis raised his eyebrow at the onslaught of information that Cindy bombarded him with. “You’re an alpha?” Might as well start off with the simplest to understand.

“Yup,” Cindy set her hand back on her hip. “Most of us here use our own blockers to keep the peace and stop drivers from feeling intimidated, but I’m a right ol’ alpha through and through.”

Ignis glanced around to see if there were any other dragons he had missed seeing. Cindy’s scent was well covered, but now that he knew what to look for, he could easily sense her alpha and how she was releasing very faint calming pheromones around him. It wouldn’t do for him to continue traveling without taking proper notice of what other dragons were around and Ignis tsked at his lack of awareness. 

“If you don’t mind me saying,” Cindy spoke up while Ignis was stuck in his thoughts. “Yer looking mighty pale over there, even for a city folk. Ya need a place to stay for the night? Or rest up before ya go back out?”

Ignis shook his head at the mention of staying. He’d already had been at this pit stop for too long as is.

“Thank you, Ms. Cindy. But I really should keep going before it gets too late.”

Cindy narrowed her blue eyes at him in suspicion. “Are ya really on a road trip? Or,” she lowered her voice to a small whisper, “are you tryin to run away from something? I can help hide ya if that’s what ya need.”

Ignis shook his head again; trying to act normally and hide the shock of this random dragon being able to so quickly guess at his motives. 

“The sentiment is greatly appreciated, truly. But I do just need a bit of time out of the city air and I want to see as much of Lucis as I can before I’m called back to work.”

Cindy hesitated, glanced over at Ignis’ car, then back to him again. She put on a small, slow smile before circling around to the other side of the car.

“Well, alright. I believe ya. Do ya have any place in mind of where yer going next?” 

Ignis jolted when she unscrewed the cap to his fuel tank and began pumping gas into it.

“That really isn’t—”

“Let me do this, handsome. It’s the least I can offer after taking so much of yer time to talk. So, any sightseeing in mind?”

“I believe your interpretation of a road trip was pretty accurate, actually. I don’t know too much about these roads or towns outside of a few maps I’ve glanced over.”

Cindy stopped the pump and returned everything to its closed state. “Then let me suggest Lestallum. It’s a pretty little town up north from here, no more than nightfall’s worth of a drive. And with this full tank here, you’ll get there no problem. It’s got some nice rooms to rest yer head at, and loads of food stops to fill yer appetite all the ways to Sunday. And around this time of the year, I’ve heard that the Oracle herself likes to visit for her own little vacation. Course, people really only go to see her to make sure the peace treaty is still strong with Niflheim, but she’s pretty enough to look at as is, so there’s that.”

Cindy pet the hood of Ignis’ car fondly twice before she looked back up at Ignis. “Yer sure I can’t get ya to stay here for a bit? Maybe get some food in ya tummy before ya scamper off?”

Ignis reached for his wallet to repay the alpha, but she denied with a grand gesture of her arms. Ignis sighed, but smiled his thanks. “No, I really have taken too much of your time as it is, Ms. Cindy. And now I’m curious about this Lestallum that you’ve built up. Thank you, for the conversation and for the tank of gas.”

Cindy sighed and slumped a bit. “Well, alrighty then. Just promise me you’ll take good care of yerself, alright? Even if you don’t stop taking the blockers, you’ll still need some help out there on yer own.”

Ignis bowed lightly and Cindy sputtered. “I will take your words to heart, and I hope that someday I can return to have a proper conversation with you again. Hopefully one not under such time restraints.”

Ignis straightened and went to sit back in the driver’s seat. He revved the car back to life and saw Cindy wave at him as he pulled out of the pit stop. He nodded his head in a final show of thanks and sped off in the direction the alpha had pointed.

***

The road to Lestallum was fairly straight forward, figuratively speaking. The path was as easy as Cindy had made it out to be: just keep heading north and the city mileage signs continually pointed in the same direction, so it was impossible to get lost. The road, however, was so curvy and tight turning that even if Ignis hadn’t been suffering stomach bugs for the last few weeks, he’d still have gotten sick from how winding the road got at some points.

Unfortunately for Ignis, his stomach was already an inconsolable mess since last night, and the roads were too unforgiving for his rolling nausea. 

If the sign Ignis had sat underneath to release the few contents in his stomach was correct, he’d reach the city in less than an hour once he’s caught his breath and cleaned his face.

The omega panted out a few more heavy breaths before wiping at his mouth and cringing at the mess that came away on his hand. He pushed himself up on unsteady legs and took the few steps needed to reach his car. Ignis opened the back door and reached for his travel bag, shifting through the side pocket until he found the water bottle he had packed for the trip.

In retrospect, Ignis thought as he poured out the water to clean his hand, he should have brought more water, and food, and clothes than he did. But in his defense, Ignis only had a few hours to get ready and did the best he could with the limited supplies he’d had in his quarters. 

Once he was appeased with the cleanliness of his hand, the omega sat heavily back on the seat facing out so he could stare at the darkening sky that was beginning to rise up alongside the cliff edge Ignis had parked on. 

The sky looked beautiful out here on the road. There were only a few street lamps to help keep the road sufficiently lit, but otherwise Ignis had stopped in an area that was just far away enough from Lestallum’s lights to clearly see more stars than he had ever seen in his life before, while also having the city act as a beacon against the darkness just a few miles away.

Ignis took a deep breath and couldn’t help but wish that Noctis was there to experience the sights with him.

Instead of the alpha though, Ignis looked down to his stomach and bit his lip, he had a different dragon to keep him company now.

This was the first silent moment the omega had had to himself since he had learned of his child’s existence. No people to rally against or verbally defend himself from, no thoughts that swirled so intensely that it all sounded like buzzing in his head rather than any coherent words; just the evening wind blowing through the sparse shrubbery and the final calls of a few birds before they went to bed. 

It was quiet. And Ignis was realizing for the first time just what he had done by leaving.

He had run away. Not only that, he had run away with the future heir of Lucis. An heir that only one other dragon knew about, admittedly, but the secret wouldn’t be held for much longer, if he hadn’t been exposed already. He was an unbonded omega who was running from his home with only the supplies he had managed to pack into a small bag, with no plan of where he was going, no idea who he could get help from once the pregnancy actually started showing, and no chance of raising a baby by himself out here on the road without a home to offer it.

Ignis removed his glasses in order to rub harshly at his face.

What was he doing? He swore an oath to stay at the prince’s side as his Advisor no matter what obstacle came their way. He promised to his adoptive parents that he would make them proud as a dragon and prove that he was worth the effort of taking in. He was on his way to become a Crownsguard with Gladiolus and Prompto now that he had presented and could finally become part of their pack with Noctis. Everything was supposed to go according to his strict plan.

A plan that had relied on Ignis not keeping the prince after his heat, though, and that was where he figured everything was bound to go wrong eventually.

Ignis had thought, had hoped, that he would have had enough control over himself to share one heat with Noctis, offer his first and only partnered heat to the alpha, and then let him go once the longing was out of his system. 

Ignis had loved the prince with all his heart, but always knew that they could never have each other. The omega was foolish enough to think that he could cheat his heart’s desires and be content with just one season in Noctis’ arms, but after their first mating Ignis knew that he would never be able to let Noctis go. The connection they shared, even without a proper bonding, was too much for Ignis to handle and as much as it killed him inside, he knew that he’d have to let Noctis go for the good of the prince. For the good of Lucis.

Everything was supposed to fall back into plan once Ignis pushed Noctis away. But now…

Ignis placed his hand over his stomach and pushed down lightly. There was a hardness there that Ignis had not noticed before. It wasn’t quite a bump, but it wasn’t the firm tautness that muscled abs created either. Ignis felt his inner omega growl slightly when he pressed a little too hard and winced in pain.

But now that he knew he was with child, could not deny the baby’s presence any longer, Ignis knew that he had made the proper choice in leaving.

Noctis was still young. He deserved to have the chance to fall in love and court any dragon his heart wished to be with. He still had his whole life to find his perfect bond mate and build a perfect life with them. He didn’t need Ignis’ non-Lucian blood tainting his family’s name and future legacy. He didn’t need Ignis’ unnatural omega background swaying the people’s affection away from him in the fear that Ignis would someday turn against them. 

Ignis wasn’t ignorant; he knew of the past Niflheim agenda with creating false omegas, and while he couldn’t say one way or the other concerning it, Ignis knew that the people of Insomnia readily thought that he was a fake sent to coerce the prince from all the good omegas that would be better for him. 

So of course Ignis needed to leave. He wouldn’t let Noctis bare the burden in knowing he’d sired a pup destined to be hated by his people, Ignis wouldn’t ever allow that type of pain to befall his love. But he also wouldn’t allow his child to be raised in such a place where all they would know would be hate and scorn. It wasn’t the pup’s fault that its barer brought them to life in a city that would never accept them.

But out here, even if Ignis had no one to help him, out here there would be no one to know the truth. No one would know that the baby he carried was the heir to Lucis, or that Ignis’ childhood was a mystery. They would be safe, as safe as anonymity would allow. 

And if that meant…

Ignis took a shuddering gasp of air and let it out wetly.

If that meant that he would never return to Insomnia, he would never see Noctis again, but his child was able to grow up without hardship or worry, then Ignis would gladly give up his past life in exchange for this new one.

Ignis stood up just as the sun finally set and the full moon illuminated the night sky even more than what the road lights offered and prayed with all his heart that the astral gods would hear his plea.

Noctis, the omega thought as he looked up at the moon, I love you. So much. So please, please don’t look for me. Have a proper love, one that can bring you honor and pride, and forget about me.

Ignis took out his phone from his pocket and pressed the power button to unlock it for the first time that day. He had silenced the device last night, after he had returned from his doctor’s office, unable to bare the barrage of messages that were bound to be sent his way, and now that it was unlocked Ignis saw that he was correct in his assumptions.

There were dozens of missed calls, all ranging from Mr. Scientia to the Queen Aulea herself, along with a handful of voicemails that took up over an hour’s worth of time in the recordings.

And there were countless texts and messages from Gladiolus and Prompto all asking where he had gone and begging him to return home. Prompto’s texts didn’t even have his signature emoticon faces that he always ended his conversations with, so Ignis knew that he was genuinely upset. 

Ignis winced as he was struck in the face with how obviously worried he was making everyone, but still backed out of the evidence to return to his home screen. 

The omega closed his eyes and leaned against his car to hopefully calm his trembling, then jumped spectacularly when his phone began to vibrate. Ignis peered down at the device and saw that Noctis was calling.

Ignis bit his lip as he stared at the little waving phone icon until it canceled itself with a time out. He breathed out a sigh once the call ended, but flinched as his phone gave another short buzz. A voicemail.

Ignis’ hand shook as he pressed the button to listen before he brought the phone up to his ear.

‘Ignis, I know why you left. Please, it’s okay. We can handle this baby together. You don’t need to be alone with this. Just please, come back home. If you don’t want to be with me…that’s fine. I’ll find you whoever you want to be with, I’ll…I’ll do whatever you need me to do to make you feel happier. Please. Don’t be out there by yourself, I can’t! I can’t…I love you. Please come back. I love—’

The message cut off before Noctis could finish and Ignis trembled as he brought down his hand. 

“Oh Noctis,” he whispered and pressed his lips to the screen. “I love you, more than you could ever know.”

Ignis powered down the phone after his kiss and threw it as far over the cliff as Ignis could manage. He watched it disappear somewhere down in the cluster of trees below, then returned his glasses to his face with a shuddering sigh. 

Ignis got back into the driver’s seat and set his head on the steering wheel for a moment.

He gripped the wheel so tightly that Ignis thought that he’d left nail imprints on the leather, then started up the engine and continued driving to follow the path to Lestallum.

***

The night was pitch black when Ignis finally made it to the city, yet there was still an abundance of music and laughter somewhere further away in the center of town.

Ignis parked his car in the designated parking spaces and curiously followed the noise. 

There were no people where Ignis had first arrived in Lestallum, but the more he walked through the streets and corridors, the more a crowd seemed to form around him. There were streetlamps lighting the paths that the crowds followed and small vendors all calling out to try and entice potential customers to their stalls. There was a copious amount of food corners, all with employees holding out samples that were passed out to anyone who walked too close; there were little toy shops where children were running around and playing with whatever their parents had bought for them; and cute little clothing stalls that had models twirling around to showcase the shawls and skirts that were put out on display.

Ignis was entranced by everything he saw.

He’d never been to a festival like this before, Insomnia having never been a place for open markets such as these and instead thrived with a more urban shopping experience of malls and stand alone stores, and left Ignis feeling out of his element in an intoxicating type of way. The omega weaved through the shopping area with some difficulty, but eventually managed to make it out of the mass of shoppers and walked towards a different congregation a few paces away. He heard them cheer suddenly and without warning, and Ignis tried to push closer to the center to see what was going on.

When he finally broke though to the front, the crowds cheered again as a woman bowed and helped an elderly man walk from a chair placed on a stage back into the mass of watchers where he must have come from.

The woman returned to the stage gracefully and smiled at the people. 

She was beautiful.

Her hair was a pale blond, almost white, that was pulled back into an attractively messy bun with a few wisps of hair being blow out by the soft breeze of the night. Her dress was a pure cotton white with golden trims along the straps that tied at her neck, and fell practically to the floor in its length. Her eyes were a calming blue, a few shades lighter than Noctis’ own Ignis thought with a pull at his heart, and she released an intense beta calming scent over the crowd that Ignis just now realized was coming from her. 

Her eyes gleamed in happiness as she took a step forward. 

“Good people of Lestallum,” her voice rang out clear as a bell and a hush fell over the people, “I thank you from the bottom of my heart that you all came out to spend this lovely evening with me. It was an honor, and my privilege as Oracle, to spend this summer solace night with you all in celebration of another peace-filled year away from the war that plagued our lands so long ago. I pray to the gods that we receive another harmonious year in the coming times and that our countries prosper in these serene days. Thank you, and may the Astrals bless,” her eyes swept over the crowd until they landed on Ignis. The woman visually gasped and covered her mouth in surprise. A murmur overtook the people.

“Ignis?” she whispered and Ignis’ eyes widened at his name. “Is that you?”

The woman took a hesitant step forward, then another, then another until she practically leapt from the stage. She ran forward and jumped at Ignis with her arms spread wide.

Ignis caught her in his arms and she pulled him in tightly for a deceptively strong hug from her thin arms.

The omega didn’t know where to place his hands as the murmuring turned into full blown confused chattering around him. 

The woman looked up at him with teary eyes. “Ignis, how I’ve missed you!” 

And without warning, she leaned up and placed a gentle kiss against Ignis’ cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Plot! Threads coming together to answer all the questions you guys have been asking since chapter one! But not yet. Noctis needs to have another breakdown first. 
> 
> Next time: Noctis reacts about as well as you think he would


	11. Undiluted Affections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm realizing that Noctis has been forced through a ton of highs and lows in this story. Can't say much more than that.

“I love you, so very much, but we can never be more than Advisor and prince.”

Those exact words circled around Noctis’ head unrelentingly for the next four months. He’d see Ignis’ back whenever he closed his eyes and his heart broke anew each time. 

His dragon had screamed for him to go after Ignis, to convince him that the words of the people didn’t matter, that Ignis’ place by his side was all Noctis could ever want, but he didn’t have the words back then to overcome the shock of seeing Ignis walk away from him and instead let him go. His dragon’s heartbreak was so intense, though, that Noct had to lock himself in his apartment for the next two days and buried himself under the lingering scent of Ignis’ forgotten clothes in order to calm the alpha.

After those two days however, Noctis still refused to return to the Citadel for more than he had to; irrationally afraid that someone would enter his room and steal away those last remnants of Ignis he had. Noctis even snarled at Prompto when he suggested cleaning out the apartment. The overwhelming scent of mixed heat and rut had long since evaporated in the three weeks since they had been together, but the faintest hint of the happiest time in Noctis’ life was still clinging to all the fabrics inside his apartment and Noctis stubbornly, desperately needed to keep hold of whatever scents he had left.

Prompto easily agreed to his desires and dropped that conversation.

Noctis acknowledged that Ignis would sometimes still come to him, sometimes, but it was always work related and never without someone else arriving earlier. Ignis never looked at Noctis directly either, and Noct couldn’t handle the snubbing and took to hiding in his room whenever Ignis showed up. His Advisor spoke to him through the door, always left a summarized booklet of what Noct had missed from all the council meetings he refused to attend, then left quickly. 

Their new routine was efficient for their unofficial breakup: clean with how Ignis could still perform his duty as Advisor and keep their public image within the realm of bare niceties. 

Noctis cried when he couldn’t smell Ignis on his bed sheets anymore. 

The one time Noctis returned to the Citadel at the request of his father, he found Ignis being cornered by Gladio in an empty room and his dragon nearly went berserk with rage at seeing his omega being forced by another alpha.

Not his, Noctis had to correct himself afterwards. Not his anymore.

Noctis pulled away Gladio with a strength that would have been admired in any other situation, and roared out swears against his Shield for placing his hands on Ignis. Noct could barely hear Gladio’s words through the ringing in his ears and lunged at the other alpha when he threateningly gestured to Ignis behind Noctis’ back. 

The two fought more violently than they ever had before and Noctis managed to draw blood with only his human nails before Prompto rushed into the room to get them to separate before Gladio had the chance to really land an attack against him.

The beta scent that flowed through the air was enough to calm both of them to the point of hostile apology, but when Noctis turned around and saw that Ignis wasn’t in the room anymore, he stormed out and returned to his apartment. 

It was only under the watchful eyes of his dad and his Shield that Noctis and Gladio spoke again the next day to halfheartedly apologize.

Ignis, Noctis heard, took up even more tasks around the Citadel to umbrella under his title as Advisor in order to avoid coming inside Noctis’ apartment entirely and just handed off whatever he had prepared to whoever opened the door, then sprinted away before they took in the air to ask him to sit down. 

For three months Noctis lived solely in his room and his state of nonexistence to Ignis was the most painful thing he had ever experienced to date. 

His mom and dad were almost by his side daily, cooing at him to leave the safety of his bed and thoughtfully rubbing his back like they had when he was a child, but sometimes Noctis would catch the faintest scent of Ignis on their hands and he would sob openly against them as he simultaneously begged for them to rub their Ignis’ scent-soaked hands over his face and pushed them away in jealousy that they were still allowed to touch Ignis when he couldn’t. 

Noctis was an absolute mess and he knew it. He just didn’t care enough to do anything about it.

Just at the beginning of the fourth month of living in this hell Noctis was being tortured in, his cellphone rang with his call ringtone that he hasn’t heard in months since everyone who needed to message him knew to send him texts or would come over and talk to him in person. No one had the need to call him, not an actual call, since Ignis.

Noctis shot out of bed and almost knocked his phone off the side table in his haste to reach for it. He eagerly picked it up without looking at the nametag and breathed out with hope and wonder.

“Ignis?”

“Noctis,” his father’s voice buzzed out instead of the accented bell tone Noctis had been hoping for and Noct practically keened in disappointment as he wilted back down onto his bed. 

“Dad,” Noctis’ voice was painfully dulled compared to what he sounded like before.

“Noctis, I need to tell you something before you hear it from anyone else. But please listen to me completely before you come to any conclusions and promise me that you won’t leave your house no matter what.”

“Dad?” Noctis repeated with a questioning tilt at the end and pushed himself back upright at his dad’s concerning tone. “What’s going on?”

His father was silent.

“Dad, what’s going on?”

“It’s…we took him to the hospital already, so don’t worry so much about that—”

“Dad,” Noctis interrupted, the hairs on the back of his neck standing upright. 

“It’s Ignis. He collapsed.”

Noctis’ chest felt like someone had punched it and all the air in his lungs escaped in a tiny squeak. “What?”

“Now don’t worry. Clarus took him to see his doctor and we’re waiting for him to get back and see what he says. Ignis has been looking unwell the past few days, and I’m assuming his workload has caught up to him.”

Noctis didn’t hear a thing over the wails of his dragon and Noct threw his feet over the side of his bed. “He collapsed?”

“Noctis,” his dad used his alpha voice and Noctis froze where he stood, “do not leave your apartment. Ignis is being looked after as we speak and there’s nothing you can do to help him right now.”

Noctis desperately wanted to challenge his father over such a command, but his shoulders sagged once he realized that he was right and that there was nothing Noctis could do for Ignis if he was already being seen by a doctor. 

That acceptance didn’t stop him from starting to pace around his room though.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Noctis growled.

“Stay where you are. Your mother and I are waiting at the Citadel with Innes and Clarus for Ignis to return and hear what the diagnosis is. Once we get that information, we’ll either call you or your mother will go to you with the details. We need to be strong right now until we know how to properly move forward.”

Noctis huffed in annoyance.

“I know it’s hard, son, and I’m sorry I had to tell you this over the phone. But word travels fast and I needed to make sure you didn’t hear it from someone else before I could reach you.”

Regis went silent again and Noctis rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“Noctis…will you tell me what happened between you and Ignis?”

Noct sucked in a breath and held it for a long time. 

He hadn’t spoken about that night to anyone, not his parents, not his friends, because he couldn’t relive the memory of Ignis walking away from him again. How could he get through talking about how Ignis had rejected him because of his duty and background without Noctis breaking down in the middle of it? How could he put in words the pain he had felt knowing that Ignis didn’t trust him that the council didn’t matter and that Ignis doubted Noctis’ love for him? 

How could he make them all understand that Noctis had failed as an alpha to provide the feeling of safety for his intended mate and Ignis was not to blame for anything?

Noctis already fought enough with Gladio about Ignis’ innocence in their separation, he wasn’t strong enough to fight everyone else in his life over it too.

Another reason why Noctis was a failure of an alpha. 

Noct heard his dad sigh on the other end and pressed his phone closer to his ear.

“Noctis, I think it’s time we had a conversation about all this. I’ve put it off long enough in the hopes that you two could get through this on your own, but I realize my mistake now. I can’t…I won’t lose my sons because they punished themselves so severely over a lack of communication.”

Noctis let out a shuddering breath and sat back on his bed with a harsh creak of the mattress. 

“Dad…”

“You are my son, Noctis, before you are this country’s prince. I need to see you happy for your own sake, and it hurts me to see you so upset when I am still able to help you carry your burdens. For now, we’ll contact you when we get more information. Try to get some rest until then.”

Noctis agreed quietly and his dad ended the call. Noctis put his phone down and threw himself backwards so that he could stare at the ceiling. 

There was a nagging point in the back of his mind that urged him to move, do something instead of wait for whatever was coming, and the feeling expanded until it became an actual headache that had Noctis covering his eyes with his arm and gritting his teeth, but what could he do? His dragon paced and snarled, unhappy that he couldn’t go to Ignis right now and shelter him with his body and the more Noctis concentrated on the alpha, the more his headache grew. 

Noct didn’t think that he would be able to get any type of rest that his dad had asked him to, but still turned his head into a pillow to at least pretend he could fall asleep. 

Lo and behold, the next thing Noctis knew was that someone was insistently knocking on his door and when he looked out the window it was considerably darker than we he had seen it during the phone call with his father.

Noctis rubbed his eyes and was thankful that the worst of his headache was gone, but there was still a slight prick at the back of his mind that had his skin crawling with a desire to go, go, go.

He got up from his bed and slowly made his way to the door.

“What?” Noctis asked irritably, and blinked when he saw Gladio standing in front of him.

“Good to see you too,” Gladio said with a small smirk that quickly disappeared the more he stared at Noctis. The two of them have been considerably strained around each other ever since their last fight, and their refusal to see eye to eye about Ignis had quickly festered into a pit that continually got deeper and deeper until they reached a point of only speaking to the other when absolutely necessary. 

Gladio looked away the more Noctis emptily stared at him. 

“I’m here to take you to the Citadel,” his Shield mumbled and Noctis’ eyebrow rose up.

“Why?”

Gladio shrugged. “I got orders from my dad saying I needed to bring you back. I think the King wants to talk to us, or something.”

Noctis tensed, reminded of their conversation earlier and figuring that whatever his dad wanted had to be about Ignis. Noct closed the door behind him and walked past Gladio without looking back.

“What are you waiting for then?”

“Hold up.” Gladio grabbed onto Noctis’ wrist and Noct glared up at the other alpha in annoyance.

Gladio tried to glare back, but sighed instead. “Look, if this thing is about Ignis,”

“Not now, Gladio,” Noctis said as he wrenched his hand back. “Whatever you have to say, it can wait until I talk to my dad.”

“We,” Gladio corrected and crossed his arms, “I said he wants to talk to us. You and me. And Prompto apparently, since blondie texted me earlier saying he was summoned to the Citadel too. There’s only a few things I can think of that would involve all three of us, and I doubt this has anything to do with the Crownsguard. Well, only about the Crownsguard.”

Noctis’ glare intensified and the air around them was on its way to becoming electric.

“So?”

“So, if we’re about to have a major conversation about Ignis, I need to know all that happened between you two before I go in there. I’m not about to make an ass of myself in front of the King and my dad by not knowing what the hell is happening with you.”

Noctis’ upper lip curled and he bared his teeth. “You don’t need to know anything.”

“The hell I do,” Gladio’s voice resonated throughout the hallway but Noctis refused to flinch at the volume. “The only thing I know for sure is that I found you in the training halls reeking of depressed alpha with Ignis’ scent all over the room but no Ignis to be seen. Then you became the depressed thing you are now, refusing to leave your apartment, refusing to leave your damned room, and Ignis is off doing whatever he does and going about his life like you two didn’t have the falling out of the godsdamn century.”

Gladio grabbed the front of Noctis’ shirt and pulled him closer to get right in his face.

“I also know that I’m now the bad guy cuz I don’t fawn over Ignis the same way everyone else does. I’m the only one who calls him out on his bullshit, and you practically get me thrown out of the castle because I confronted him. So either you explain why I should forgive that asshole who doesn’t care enough about you to even come back and check how you’re doing, or I go in there and make a case for why Ignis should never be allowed near you again.”

Noctis roared and pulled back so strongly that Gladio’s grip ripped the front of Noctis’ shirt open. The two alphas venomously stared at each other, Noctis’ hand twitching to transform into a claw and rip through Gladio to make him pay for threatening Ignis, no matter how indirectly. 

There was no Prompto to stop them this time, no other beta to pull them apart like when their sparing got too intense for a workout. Noctis was tempted, so tempted, to finally let loose and show Gladio just why Noctis was the alpha of their pack by sinking his dragon teeth into the back of Gladio’s neck. The bite would be painful, especially if Gladio refused to transform, and it would serve as punishment for going against Noctis.

The two growled deep in their throats for a long minute, until Noctis tightly clenched his hand and spat out the words he had hidden inside for the past four months.

“I failed him.”

The sentence threw Gladio so off that he stopped growling immediately and straightened up from his defensive stance. “What?”

“I. Failed. Him,” Noctis repeated. The emphasized words burned on his tongue, but now that they were out, Noctis couldn’t stop the others that followed after. 

“He was scared of the reputation. My reputation, being ruined by choosing a non-Lucian omega to be my mate. He said that people were angry with my choice and that I could have anyone I wanted except for him. I failed as his alpha to reassure him that everything would be alright if we got together. I failed to show that I was strong enough to protect him from the hate. He said,” Noctis’ back collided with a wall and he pressed his hands into his eyes to stop the tears that threatened to come out. 

“He said that he wasn’t going to mate with me during his heat, but that our seasons came too strong for him to get out. He said…what he didn’t say…I don’t know if he ever wanted me for me, or because I was always around him that he didn’t know how to say no.”

Noctis looked desperately up at Gladio’s wide eyes and felt the tears burn at the corners of his own eyes. “I don’t know if he ever felt anything for me, or if my scenting him tricked his mind into thinking that he wanted me. How can I ever be sure that the time we had together, all the times he’s said he loved me, were real and not something I created because he never had a different choice?”

Gladio hesitated and shuffled on his feet as he looked off to the side and avoided Noctis’ gaze. Noctis rubbed at his eyes roughly and worked on controlling his breathing so that he wouldn’t break down in the middle of his hallway.

The things he’d said, those were words he never spoke aloud, even to himself, and while a part of him wanted to reel them back inside and act like he never said anything, another part of him was relieved that he’d finally acknowledged all the thoughts that were crowding his mind for so long. The fear that Ignis would leave him for good, the desperation to cling to any reminder, no matter how painful, of the time that Noctis believed that they were both happy was so overwhelming and consuming. But to think that all of those memories could be a lie, that they were founded on falsities and forced biology was enough to make Noctis sick. 

How was it possible for Noctis to feel so strongly for a person who could walk away from all they could be without looking back? Was Noctis the only one who felt their connection? A connection that was there long before Noctis even realized that it was there?

All the doubt, sadness, relief floating around Noctis’ head was so distracting that he didn’t notice Gladio getting closer until the Shield placed his oversized hand on top of Noctis’ head.

Noct peeked up but Gladio’s blushing face was turned away.

“Sorry,” the larger dragon mumbled and Noctis’ eyes widened.

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” Gladio said again but still kept his face away from Noct’s. “I didn’t realize that the situation was so complicated for you. With Prompto, our relationship came so easily that I figured everyone else’s could be just as easy. But it’s not. And I’m sorry, for trying to downplay your concerns the first time we talked about this. I thought…you know, it doesn’t matter what I thought. I brushed your fears aside and I shouldn’t have done that.”

Gladio finally turned his head back just as Noctis’ mouth was stuck open in surprise. Gladio saw it and huffed out a small laugh. Noctis managed to close his mouth just as Gladio stopped chuckling and his Shield’s expression changed back into a frown.

“But Prompto was right too.”

Gladio lifted his hand off of Noct’s hair and instead flicked at his forehead quickly. Noctis blinked at the pain and covered the attacked spot with both his hands.

“You two should have talked about all this before it got this bad.” Gladio’s eyebrows furrowed. “You guys have the worst communication skills I’ve ever seen. Prom and I got along so easily at the start because we talked about what was on our minds before we bonded. We knew what we wanted out of a relationship going in, and were on the same page before we found out we were truemates. No surprises, no hidden feelings. Turns out arguments don’t really happen so much when you know what the other person is thinking and why they’re upset with you.”

Noctis kept rubbing at his forehead to cover his face, but he could still feel Gladio looking at him. Noct’s shoulders hunched in as he put his hands down and he brought his attention to the floor.

Gladio sighed. “Look, I’m just as mad at you as I am at Ignis. You both are morons who need a good knock to the head and to be locked in the same room so you can finally sort all this stuff out. I’m tired of looking at your sad faces all the time, and I’d like to know now if you’re still gonna try and attack me every time I say something bad about Ignis.”

Noctis tried to glare at his Shield, he really did, but between the relief of expressing his feelings and of not having to be angry with Gladio all the time anymore, there just wasn’t enough ire in Noctis to warrant another glare so soon.

Noctis shook his head and Gladio clapped him on the back. 

“Good. I haven’t forgiven you for all the shit you’ve pulled, you royal pain in the ass, but I’ve still got your back even if you don’t want me to.”

Gladio sniffed and rubbed at his nose.

“I swear, you’d think you two were bonded with how defensive you are of him.”

Noctis growled unimpressively and Gladio simply scoffed at the sound.

“Can we just go see Dad already?”

Gladio froze for a second before he swore and heavily pushed Noctis towards the elevator.

***

The two made it to the Citadel in record time and were greeted by a worried looking Prompto at the entrance. Gladio practically collapsed into his arms with the relief that they weren’t as late as he thought they’d be and Prompto snapped his gaze from one alpha to the other. Noctis shrugged and offered a small smile in the hopes that that conveyed how they were good now and Prompto’s smile was almost blinding with how radiant it was. 

The three bounded up the castle steps and headed to the throne room where they knew the King was waiting for them.

Sure enough, when they entered the impressive area, the King was sitting on his throne with Clarus on his left, the Queen on his right, and Innes Scientia a little forward and bowed at the waist. The four elder dragons all looked up when Noctis entered, and while Noct’s mom gave them a small smile, everyone else just looked at them with frowns and eyes filled with tension.

Noctis froze at their looks and felt Gladio and Prompto tense at his back.

Regis took a quick second to change his expression to a small smile too, and waved them over with a flick of his hand.

“Noctis. How good it is to see you out of your rooms.”

Noctis tried to keep his face neutral instead of becoming the worried mess he felt just underneath.

“Dad. You…ah, you wanted to see us?”

The King looked between the three of them, then back to Innes, before he nodded his head to a side room behind the throne.

“I did. But I think this conversation needs to be a little more private than what we have here.”

Noctis felt something in his chest snap. “Is Ignis alright?”

Regis gave a more convincing smile at that question. “He’s fine. His doctor said he was exhausted from all the work he’s been doing lately and is in need of some rest.”

Noct’s chest untightened slightly and he let out a sigh of relief.

Everyone entered the smaller conference room and Clarus closed the door behind them once everyone was inside. The King motioned for everyone to take a seat around the table and sat at the head himself, with Aulea taking the seat next to him. 

It wasn’t noticeable to anyone else, but Noctis always knew when his parents were comforting each other and was aware that his mom had grabbed his dad’s hand underneath the table.

Noctis sat to their left and was vaguely aware that Prompto took the other chair next to him.

Innes fiddled with a folder as he sat next to the Queen and offered it to Regis when the King asked for it wordlessly.

Regis eyed Noctis thoughtfully and Noctis swallowed harshly. His dad took a breath before letting it out through his nose.

“I had hoped that this could have been put off until the meeting with the council tomorrow, but with what happened today, I feel it necessary to bring it to your attention, Noctis, before we go in.”

Regis slid the folder to Noctis, who refrained from opening it until given express permission. 

“As I told you already, Ignis collapsed earlier today.” Noct heard Prompto gasp lightly at his side. “We immediately took him to the hospital for inspection, but we’ve all noticed how ill Ignis has been for the past few weeks prior to today.”

“He’s been subjected to uncontrollable cold shivers, and practically daily nausea for the last two weeks,” Innes continued and Noctis’ gaze jumped to the older Advisor. The man coughed into his hand. “I should say, the last two weeks was when I first noticed his symptoms. How long he’s actually been suffering could be anyone’s guess as he’s taken to hiding his body’s pains concerningly easy.”

Noctis heard a whine echo throughout the small room and it took him a second to realize that it came from him when Prompto grabbed at his knee in a gesture of comfort.

Regis linked his fingers together and placed his elbows on the table. “We felt the need to tell you this, Noctis, as it relates to what happened today. We feared that Ignis’ symptoms were a result of your argument, whatever may have caused it, and had hoped that we could get you two to reconnect quickly in light of the effects its had on Ignis’ health. However, Innes has brought me the folder you have in front of you, found on Ignis’ office desk after I had called you, and in it holds…testaments that I’d hoped you’d be able to shed some light on.”

Regis closed his eyes tightly before they opened full of pain and looked at Noctis. 

“Noctis, has Ignis ever told you he was being harassed for being close to you?”

Noctis’ fingers clenched so hard that he felt his short nails pierce his skin and draw pinpricks of blood from his palms.

His reaction was apparently all his father needed to see and he gestured to the folder. Noctis slowly unclenched his hands and carefully opened the folder to read the front page underneath it.

“Fake Lucian! Fake omega!” were the first words that stood out to him and Noctis felt numb the more he read down the page.

“How dare you stand next to prince Noctis as if you are above the Lucians he rules over? Do you think that you can be by his side as if you were a proper mate? You Niflheim dragons are not welcomed in Insomnia after all you have done to us.” 

“You can pretend to be an omega all you want. You can stand next to Noctis for as long as you can. But we know the truth, you fake omega. The prince won’t be blind to your non-Lucian ways for much longer.”

Noctis turned the page.

“If you think you can be the prince’s consort, you have another thing coming! The Crown needs a proper Lucian omega; not whatever abomination you are!”

“You cannot be the mate of the prince!”

“Any bond between you two will be broken to pieces by my own hand.”

“A FAKE LUCIAN! A FAKE OMEGA!”

Page after page was filled with more hatred aimed at Ignis. Some simply stating how he was unfit to be near the royal family, some going into explicit detail on how he would be forcibly taken away from Noctis’ side. The numbness Noct’s body was going through could not tame the wild fire burning in his chest, but Noctis managed to remain calm as he read through all the letters one by one. 

Surprisingly, or maybe not considering the state Noctis’ mind was in, it was the final note with the simple word “NIFLHEIM” printed in all caps across the top that broke Noctis and had him pushing away from the table.

Everyone in the room watched him stalk into a corner that was covered by a black and blue tapestry and push the silk aside to reveal the stone wall behind it. With a sudden roar of fury, Noctis punched the wall with such intensity that he managed to put a dent in the solid rock after a few even hits. It wasn’t until his mom pulled him away with a worried cry that Noct realized his hand was bleeding intensely and his knuckles were bruised from the probable broken bones underneath the broken skin.

Noctis kept screaming though and his mother dropped with him when he fell to his knees.

Was this the reason Ignis had left him? Unnamed people were threatening him and he was scared of what the notes contained?

No, that didn’t sit right. Ignis was no coward, and despite the horrifying words printed in those letters, Ignis would not have let them slide if he only feared for himself. He was smart, so smart, and he knew that the King was on his side and if he went to him about this, he would be protected in a heartbeat against all that harassment.

No. Ignis did not leave to save himself. 

‘The council was not happy that you took me of all dragons to your bed and they are not shy in sharing their displeasure. You’re people are not shy in sharing their displeasure. They are the ones you need to please once you become ruler.’

The words filtered through Noctis’ memory like a timely record and suddenly all of Ignis’ little comments began to make sense.

He was always so worried about how the country would see Noctis. He tried his damnedest to help Noctis with his work, protected his royal image by taking on the council meetings and conferences that Noctis was too stubborn to go to. Ignis always pushed himself past the expectations of what an Advisor was expected to do. And he did it all so Noctis wouldn’t look bad. Just to keep Noctis from being pressured into acting like a prince. And if people were angry at Ignis, then it wouldn’t be impossible to think that they would turn their anger onto Noctis for choosing him.

‘You chose me. A non-Lucian born to mate. An unstable omega, to mate. And outside of your family, no one is very happy about your choice.’

“He left to protect me,” Noctis whispered once he finally stopped screaming. His gaze was stuck on the floor beneath his feet and he felt his mom’s hand rubbing at his back. Noctis looked up to stare at his father, who returned the stare with sorrow and shame in his eyes.

Something ticked in the back of his mind and Noctis narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Did you know?”

His father, the strong alpha King of Lucis who never once backed down no matter what attack was thrown at his face, had to look away and cover his eyes with his hand.

Innes tensed next to him and lowered his head as well.

Noctis shook with the force of his anger but did not have the strength to stand back up again.

“You knew?”

“There have been a few…tamer letters sent to both myself and his Majesty,” Innes said, his head still lowered. “They depicted some…concerns that the senders had about Ignis’ admittance to coming from Niflheim. They were never as forceful as what is seen here, nor did any of them outright threaten Ignis’ place at the Citadel, so we thought it best to be dealt with internally and without involving Ignis unnecessarily.”

“The council,” Regis muttered harshly to himself, then sighed and lowered his hand. “The council had been getting more aggressive about finding you a bond mate, Noctis. I had convinced them to give you the final say on who you chose, but they were, are, adamant that you choose someone other than Ignis to be by your side.”

His green eyes were tired when he looked at Noctis and made up entirely of self-hatred. 

“I didn’t think that he was being targeted like this.”

“When were these sent?” Noctis asked, voice hard.

“Most that I found were dated more than a year back. The most recent however was from three months ago.”

Noctis got to his feet shakily and gently pushed away his mother’s hands when she tried to help him up. He made for the door but Gladio stood up as well.

“Where are you going?”

“To find Ignis,” Noctis growled without looking back. Gladio grabbed his shoulder to stop him and Noct tried to shrug it off. “I need to see him!”

“Please wait a moment, son,” Regis said quietly and Noctis stopped fighting against Gladio’s hold. “We told you this because you needed to know, but you going to Ignis now won’t help the situation. Or his health.”

Noctis sagged at those words and finally turned to face the group. 

“Then what do I do?” he whispered.

His parents looked at each other.

“We’re sending Ignis on a short vacation tomorrow,” his mom spoke up. “His doctor recommended that he get away for a bit to help with his exhaustion and we’re hoping, we were hoping that once he gets back that you two can have a proper conversation about everything that’s happened.”

“You’re sending him alone?!” Noctis shouted.

“Nyx Ulric will be escorting him there and back,” Clarus’ gruff voice sounded for the first time and seemed to catch everyone off guard as even Gladio jumped unexpectedly.

Noctis still wasn’t appeased. “So he’ll still be by himself somewhere, sick and tired, and I’m expected to just be okay with this?”

“We’re not asking you to be okay with all this, Noctis. But we are asking you to understand why he deserves to be alone right now.” Regis’ voice was hard, his alpha coming out to bring Noctis down from his anger high. “Ignis deserves some space, and we owe it to him to allow it.”

While Noctis and his dad stared off with each other, Prompto shyly glanced around at everyone else. 

“Um…you said that you wanted to talk about this at a council meeting tomorrow? Is that…something that’s still happening?”

Bless Prompto for trying to break up the tension.

“Yes, that’s, that’s something we needed you all to hear about too,” Regis said once Noctis looked away first. “Tomorrow, we have scheduled a meeting with the council about Noctis’ attachment to Ignis. I wanted to end this discussion for the final time and I wanted you three to be there, as it will also affect your future Crownsguard group dynamic as well. But in light of this information, I will also be bringing up a few questions I have.” Regis’ eyes flashed with the Lucis signature red glow for a quick second. “Mainly, how the knowledge of Ignis saying he was not Lucian got out into the public.”

The three adults all stiffened and Innes hissed as he rubbed at his eyes. 

“How could I have missed that?”

The King looked back between Noctis, Gladio, and Prompto. “I would ask that you three remain here for the night so that you can be present for all this. They will need your testimonies for keeping Ignis as a Crownsguard, and Noctis,” he paused to take a deep breath, “you will need to define just what Ignis is to you, and defend that connection in order to keep him by your side.”

Noctis balled his fist up and couldn’t help the shiver that ran through his body. 

He would be defining his love for Ignis for the whole council to see. He would finally be able to proudly state that he wanted Ignis and no other dragon to be his. He would shout his devotion and claim of Ignis Scientia from the top of the Citadel if that was what it would take to have just one more smile from Ignis given his way. And if…if he could clear the council, clear up Ignis’ fear that they would not accept him, then maybe…

Noctis shook his head to clear his thoughts. One step at a time. He’d fight the council, win, and make a declaration or something to all of Insomnia that he would not stand for anyone speaking badly about Ignis ever again. 

“Will you three stay the night here and help us prepare for the morning?”

He saw Prompto and Gladio nod silently at his side and knew that they would stand by him and protect Ignis from whatever was coming. 

***

Noctis couldn’t find sleep in his old rooms and had to forcibly stop himself from sneaking out to see Ignis throughout the night, but he did it and once the first light of morning cracked through his window, he was out and heading to his father’s meeting room.

All night he had been preparing what he wanted to say, but for all the declarations of love and devotion he had scripted out and practiced, none of them really encompassed the emotions that were brewing in his heart and all the writing had been balled up and tossed away. So now, Noctis didn’t have any idea of what he’d talk about at the meeting and hoped that his parents could help him think of something so that he wouldn’t end up botching everything. 

For what had to be the first time in his life, Noctis was the first to arrive at the room. He paced around the small table, muttering to himself different starting points and ideas that he knew needed to be said at least once, until Innes, Regis, and Aulea walked in to catch him threatening the chair as he pretended it was one of the noble dragons.

By mid morning, everyone was up and ready to go and Innes led their charge to the conference room a few minutes before everything was scheduled to start.

“Welcome,” the King’s voice boomed once all chairs were filled and before the council could glare at Noctis and his friends for being there, “thank you all for accepting my summons this early in the morning. Let us begin.”

An elder beta cleared his throat before anyone else. “Your Majesty, if I may open up the conversation. The summon notes your Advisor provided suggested that this meeting was solely centering around the younger Mr. Scientia and his relation to his Highness. I do not mean to presume your intentions, but I hope there are more crucial matters than such insignificance that we can attend to this morning?”

The other five council members all hummed and nodded in agreement and Noctis felt his dragon growl at them fiercely.

How dare they call Ignis insignificant? Or Noctis’ intention to bond him non-crucial? 

“Mr. Dirgewood,” his father tsked with a heavy frown. “You have led my council since my own father ruled Lucis, so I would hope that you speaking so blatantly is a result of the early hour and not an attempt to undermine the importance of what I specifically called you here for.”

Dirgewood blushed slightly under his high collar, Noct noticed in glee, but didn’t back down from looking at the King.

“I would never, your Majesty. I simply wanted to clarify the plan for this meeting in the hopes that we wouldn’t waste your valuable time by misinterpreting your summons.”

Noct’s dad straightened to his full height in his chair and stared down at the six council members. “I will say this once and will not repeat myself. I called you all here today to discuss the matter of Ignis Scientia and the aftereffects he’s endured from being close to my family, myself included.” The six dragons subtly glanced at each other and flinched when Innes pushed forward the folder Noctis had looked through yesterday.

“I, along with Innes Scientia, have both received a numerable amount of letters from concerned, anonymous citizens about Ignis’ birth country and his relationship to my son. They were relatively harmless and were looked into secretly; however, yesterday it came to my attention that Ignis Scientia had been receiving certain letters as well. Yet his letters were of a more violent nature; threatening both his status as a citizen and his status as a dragon, with the intent to mentally and physically frighten him into absolving his post at the Citadel.”

His dad and mom’s eyes flashed very quickly with their angry glow, but it faded as soon as it appeared. Noctis’ hands balled up and he hoped that his eyes flashed as well.

“So the point of this meeting, gentlemen, is to ask this: Ignis Scientia’s first, and only, admittance to being from Niflheim was said while in the presence of myself, my wife, and my son. That information was given solely to his doctor and the therapist he had seen his first night in Insomnia, and recorded with his medical files to be seen by their eyes alone.” Regis stared into the eyes of each person in the room one by one and Noctis took pleasure in seeing how the council squirmed in their seats when looked at by the King. 

“Ignis himself forgot the events of that night immediately after admittance. So how is it that all of Insomnia found out such a thing when the person in question did not know that fact until it was later recounted to him? How did all of you know that Ignis Scientia was not from Lucis?”

No one spoke. No one breathed. And none of the council could make eye contact with the King.

Regis nodded after a minute of silence, then gestured for Mr. Scientia to stand.

“I found some curious paperwork, if no one else can answer the question. In it is the receipt of Citadel funding sent directly to an individual who I found to work at Insomnia Hospital. I also have a copy of an email sent out from the Citadel computers that was hidden deep within the archives stating an order to the same individual invoiced that they should, and I quote, ‘copy Ignis Scientia’s records and send them to the email provided.’ A crude simplification, but clear none the less.”

Regis didn’t ease up his stare. “Thank you Innes. In light of this new information, does anyone have anything to say now?”

Noctis could have heard a pin drop, the room suddenly got so quiet. 

“Ignis Scientia should not have been allowed inside the Citadel,” a middle-aged alpha spoke and his voice seemed to spark the rest back to life with his comment.

“We knew he would bring trouble for the royal family, and he has proven it,” another alpha agreed and banged his hand against the table.

“He latched himself onto the prince, and brainwashed him into being the highest candidate for consort.”

“That fake omega tricked the prince into caring for him, and now he must be removed by any means to protect his Highness from his treachery.”

“We were just protecting the prince.”

“Enough!” Noctis shouted and shot to his feet. All eyes were on him but his heart was beating too fast and his eyes were too red with rage for him to feel embarrassed by his outburst. 

“Ignis did not brainwash me! He didn’t trick me! He didn’t latch onto me against my will and all you’ve done is hurt my mate in your attempts to ‘protect’ me!”

“Highness, he is not your mate,” the first alpha tried to patronize him, but Noctis’ glare was so intense that the elder dragon sat back in his chair and hunched a bit over.

“Ignis is mine,” Noctis hissed through clenched teeth. “Just as I am his. The earth stilled the first time we locked eyes with each other and I knew that we completed each other. I’ve always wanted nothing more than to have Ignis’ approval of me. Since the moment he first judged me with his beautiful green eyes, I needed to be worthy of him. I needed to prove to him that he could trust me, as a friend, as a mate, as the alpha who would protect him from the world that harmed him. I need Ignis by my side! These past months have been hell because YOU all tried to push Ignis away from me! I don’t care if he’s a fake omega, I don’t care if he was sent by Niflheim to spy on me. I love Ignis Scientia. And if you DARE try to hurt him again, I swear on the line of Lucis that I will end you and it will be PAINFUL.”

The scent of overpowering alpha was so strong in the room that even Noctis noticed it once he was done with his rant. All the people in the room, everyone except his mother and father, all had their heads bent and their necks barred in Noctis’ direction. His breathing was heavy and his chest throbbed from trying to take in air again, and seeing everyone in such submissive positions kinda made him feel sick, but Noctis refused to back down now that he made his will known.

He cast his eyes to his sitting parents and his mom had her hands covering her mouth and her eyes were the widest Noct’s ever seen.

His dad’s face was impassive for a moment, but then he tilted his head with a sad look in his eyes.

“How could I have not seen?” he muttered, and covered his eyes with his hand. 

“Noctis…” his mom whispered and she looked like she wanted to go to him. 

Noct sat back into his chair with a thud and looked around the room as everyone began to lift their heads a bit. Prompto’s eyes looked dazed and Gladio blinked a few times to clear the hazed looked he had. Clarus and Innes shook their heads and the six councilmen glared down at the table.

Regis tapped his finger on the table to gather everyone’s attention.

“Well, as you’ve all just seen, I don’t think this issue need be discussed any more. Noctis has chosen his partner, his love, and as our laws dictate he will not be forced away from his chosen.”

The King looked back at Noctis and nodded his head. 

“Noctis, in light of what you just showed us, and what you described from your memory, you have more than proven your devotion to Ignis and will be allowed to court him freely from here on out. Also, as is your right, you have the final say as to the fates of those who had caused harm to your truemate.”

Noctis blinked at his dad.

“What?”

“…You and Ignis are truemates. I’m sorry that I didn’t notice it before.”

Before Noctis could comprehend the words echoing throughout his brain, a knock sounded at the door before a Kingsglaive burst through it. 

Clarus and Gladio jumped to their feet and extended their arms to try and cover their charges from surprise.

“Ulric,” Clarus bellowed and everyone jumped a second time at the sound, “what in hell’s name do you think you’re doing here?”

The glaive panted for breath and held himself up against the door he threw open.

“I’m sorry sir…but the assignment…Scientia…Scientia was not in his rooms this morning when I went to go pick him up. He…the grounds patrol glaive said that he saw Scientia leaving early this morning, somewhere around o’one and o’three hundred hours. We don’t…we don’t know where he is sir, and he hasn’t returned from wherever he went.”

***

The world kinda whited out for Noctis for a minute, and the next thing he knew, he was sprinting down the Citadel corridors on the way to Ignis’ rooms.

There had to be some kind of mistake: Ignis couldn’t just be, missing. He had to be sleeping, or doing paperwork at his desk, or something. 

But when Noctis made it to Ignis’ area and barged through the unhinged door, Ignis was nowhere to be found.

Noctis just stared at the empty room in confusion as two sets of footsteps stomped towards him. 

“You gotta…give a guy a warning Noct,” Prompto panted. Gladio was at his back and wasn’t nearly as winded as the beta, but he was breathing a little heaver than normal as well.

“He’s not here,” Noct said as a response as he looked around. “Where is he?”

Prompto finally caught his breath and peeked his head into the room and glanced around. 

“Maybe…he’s at the library? Maybe he forgot that someone was coming to pick him up?”

Noctis clung to that suggestion like it was a lifeline and spun on his heel out of the room.

The three checked the library, then Ignis’ office, then the staff kitchens, then any door that was closed. They heard the King give an announcement over the wall speakers to search for Ignis, and multiple people began searching through rooms just as they were, but it was all worthless.

Ignis wasn’t in the Citadel.

Noctis was just a second away from running out into the city to search for him by running; scream through the streets if that was what it took to find him, but Gladio held him back by physically lifting Noctis off the ground before he could make it down the castle stairs.

“What are you going to do out there, huh? Get lost, or kidnapped, when Ignis probably just went out to go shopping or something? Let the Kingsglaive use their network to track him down and Ignis’ll be back in your arms before you know it.”

That was what Gladio promised, that is what Clarus suggested they do to better search for Ignis, and Noctis curled into his mom’s arms and trembled with dry sobs of worry into her chest.

Hours passed and no one was able to find anything. Each glaive came back one by one with no results. Not even a lead as to where he went.

Mr. Scientia, his mom, and even his dad tried calling him during those hours, and Prompto and Gladio both messaged him like crazy to try and get Ignis to respond, but no one got an answer that way either. 

Night was close to falling and Noctis was practically catatonic in his parents’ living room. Everyone from the morning, except Clarus, surrounded him to try and ease his worry, but Noctis wouldn’t have it. 

Had Ignis actually run away for good? Was the harassment, the stress, Noctis, finally too much for him and he decided that he didn’t want anything to do with them anymore?

Noct heard his parents furiously whispering with Innes and say something about Galdin Quay. That’s right, Ignis was supposed to go there to get some rest. Did he go off on his own to get a head start? Was he unable to wait even a second longer to get away from them?

Noctis let out a shuddering sigh and Prompto rubbed his back in an attempt at comfort.

It didn’t do anything except make Noctis miss when Ignis used to do the same thing, but he was grateful for Prompto’s tries.

Suddenly, the door opened wide and Noctis lifted his head off the couch he was curled on. Clarus and another dragon hesitantly walked in and his parents stood to greet them.

“Dr. Cerge, what are you doing here?”

The dragon’s face was pale as the looked between all the expectant faces, until he finally settled on Noctis and let out a stuttering sigh.

“I came as soon as I heard the news that Ignis was missing.”

Noctis sat up; he was the first person who seemed to have a clue about Ignis.

“He…I’m so sorry. I should never have left him alone after the news. I trusted that…he said he wanted to be the one who told you, and I believed him. He was showing too many signs of fear and stress; I should have known better. Please, forgive me.”

Noctis snarled and stalked up to the doctor. He grabbed onto the beta’s throat with all the strength he had and ignored the multiple voices telling him to let go.

“You did this?” Noct growled and his dragon hissed and pawed inside his head to be let free to maim this man for somehow causing Ignis to leave.

“I didn’t recognize his signs of fear,” the man rasped and Noctis tightened his grip even further.

“Explain!”

“Noctis, let him go!” his mother yelled and his dad pried his hand away from the doctor’s throat. The man gasped in pain, but stayed right where he stood rather than back away from Noctis.

The doctor closed his eyes as a different kind of pain overtook his face and turned his head away from Noctis.

“I told him…the cause of his illness, and he didn’t take the information very well.”

Noctis snarled again. “Stop talking in riddles and just spit it out!”

The man shuddered and lowered his head.

“Ignis Scientia is pregnant, your Highness. He is carrying the next heir of Lucis and you are its sire.”

The very air itself seemed to freeze inside the room and Noctis took a step back from the doctor. Then another.

“That’s impossible,” Noctis whispered. He heard his mother keen and everyone else gasp, but couldn’t focus on anything but the man in front of him with this head still lowered.

“He’s about four months along and will begin showing physical symptoms within the next month. I fear…he had wished to reveal this information to you himself, but I fear that was an appeasement only for myself. He was…scared, when I revealed to him the truth. Nervous. I had thought it simply due to the surprise; if I had thought for even a moment that he would run off, I never would have let him go alone.”

“Then you didn’t tell him he needed rest in Galdin?” the King asked, his voice morose in its low tone.

The doctor shook his head. “No; traveling is the worst thing for him right now. His state…his body showed all the signs of being a natural-born omega, but with the state of his mind, any pregnancy runs the risk of complications when overt stress is added. He needs to be on bed rest, especially with his anemia causing most of his illness outside of the pregnancy symptoms.”

Noctis couldn’t hear anymore, the white static in his ears blocked out the rest of the conversation and he backed out of the room until he was alone in the hallway. He closed the door behind him to cancel the loud voices and sudden yelling that erupted in the room and slid his back down the opposite wall until he sat on the floor with his legs bent up to rest his head.

Noctis blindly reached for his phone and pressed the speed dial he has denied himself access to for the past four months. Like always now, it gave a solid six rings before he was transferred to the voicemail option.

He waited for the courtesy beep at the end of the stock voice clip to let him know when to start talking, then released his heart out for only Ignis to hear.

“Ignis, I know why you left. Please, it’s okay. We can handle this baby together. You don’t need to be alone with this. Just please, come back home. If you don’t want to be with me…that’s fine. I’ll find you whoever you want to be with, I’ll…I’ll do whatever you need me to do to make you feel happier. Please. Don’t be out there by yourself, I can’t! I can’t…I love you. Please come back. I love—”

The voicemail beeped again, cutting Noctis off like the final heartbeat of a poorly scripted movie. Noctis’ breath shuddered as he breathed against the phone; he kissed Ignis’ contact name with all the love he would if Ignis was right there and reverently whispered Ignis’ name like it was a prayer on his lips.

Noctis dialed the number again, in knowledge that he’d get a voicemail but with the strongest wish that Ignis would pick up, but instead of either the things he expected to hear, a mechanical voice buzzed in his ear.

‘The number you have reached has either been disconnected or is out of service. Please try again at a later time.’

Ignis turned off his phone. He was getting their messages before, but now made it so no one could reach him at all anymore.

Noctis’ inner dragon howled in pain like he had never known before, not even during the months Ignis had ignored him, and kept howling until Noctis thought his brain would explode from how agonized he was.

And while his dragon shrieked inside his head, Noctis clutched his phone in an impossibly tight grip and let out the most heartbroken scream to the ceiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. We're officially over the hump of the story guys, it's all a race down now. I'm thinking another five chapters or so? We'll see where the next one leaves off, and I'll hopefully have a more definitive number then.
> 
> Next time: Ignis and Luna talk about life underneath the stars. It's quite nice, no angst in sight


	12. Memories are Perception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter I'm calling explanation part 1, otherwise known as the chapter that had to be redone three times before this could be put out. And! If you noticed, there is a final chapter count! I reworked the outline completely from what I had done before, and I'm confident on where this story will end now. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this update!

Ignis’ breath stopped short when the beautiful woman kissed his cheek. He looked forward, unsure where to keep his eyes focused, but the woman moved back and bowed quickly to the confused onlookers. Then she grabbed Ignis’ wrist and pulled him away from the crowd and led him running down a small path behind some buildings of the main square.

“Ma’am, please stop a moment,” Ignis pleaded. He didn’t want to risk hurting her if he tried to take his hand back, but he was unwilling to follow such a stranger so easily.

“You don’t have to be so formal, Ignis!” the woman responded and turned her face to look at Ignis with a smile. 

They made it out of the tight path and stood in front of a brightly lit building. The overhanding sign of ‘The Leville’ was illuminated by a light underneath and soft music could be heard around the tables set up around the perimeter to create a stark contrast of atmosphere from the celebrating center of town.

Ignis looked around himself in awe of the quaint area and found that as much as he was entranced by the rest of the city, this small part of it was more to his liking.

The woman hesitated between looking to go inside the building and stay out with the tables, then tugged gently at Ignis’ wrist to maneuver him to sit down with her.

Her blue eyes sparkled under the lights as she sat across from Ignis and stared openly at his face.

“You haven’t changed at all,” she sighed happily and smoothed down the front of her dress.

Ignis shifted in his seat. “Ma’am, I think you have the wrong person.”

The woman frowned. “‘Ma’am’? Ignis, even though it’s been years, that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me like we’re not friends.”

“See, there’s where I’m sorry to say you’ve been mistaken. I’ve never met you before in my life.”

The woman narrowed her eyes at him and slowly raised her pale hand to his face. Ignis tensed and the hand flinched slightly, but didn’t stop until it rested on his glasses.

“May I?” she whispered and Ignis couldn’t help but nod to appease her. 

She removed his glasses gently and set them down on the table. Her other hand came up to cup his face between her palms and she looked deeply up into his eyes with a searching intent on her face.

She tilted his head this way, then that, then caressed his cheeks fondly with her thumbs.

“You are Ignis,” she said and kept touching his cheek. “I’d never forget you for as long as I’d live.”

Ignis tried hard not to lean away from her touch. “Maybe your Ignis looks similar to me? I can assure you that we’ve never met.”

The woman leaned back and rested her hands over her lap. “There’s…nothing you remember about me?”

Ignis shook his head. “I’m sorry for the confusion.”

She took his hand before he could get up from his chair. “Is there…may I ask what one of your earliest memories is? I know it’s a strange request, but if you could humor me…”

Ignis didn’t even need a second to think about it. “I was…being held, protected, underneath a black dragon. I was in pain, and he calmed me through that pain until it passed.” 

That first moment was the one thing time could never erase from his memory. The years had stolen what the King and Queen’s expressions looked like in that moment, and he could vaguely remember the conversations they’d had together and who else had silently been in the room with them, but the image of Noctis in all his youthful dragon glory laying over him, each of his black scales pressed so protectively over each of his silver ones, could not be lost. Ignis’ very soul was soothed in that moment. He felt a connection to Noctis that he’d never had with anyone since before he even knew Noctis’ name. And they felt right together; Ignis felt whole and complete despite not knowing who any of the people surrounding him were, or how he’d gotten to where he’d woken up. Nothing mattered in that moment except for him and the beautiful dragon that had practically claimed him as his.

Ignis was so lost in his mind that he didn’t notice the woman trying to grab his attention until she leaned closer and placed a hand on his arm. 

“And you were how old when this happened?”

“Fifteen,” Ignis replied with a blush. He didn’t intend to get so distracted by the thought of Noctis.

“Fifteen?” the woman gasped and sat back properly. “How are you missing the memories of so much of your life?”

The omega didn’t say anything, but his silence must have been enough. 

Suddenly, the woman’s eyes widened and a blush overtook her face.

“Oh! I just…I just came at you like a madwoman. And I…” she covered her glowing cheeks with her hands and turned away from Ignis. “I’m so sorry! Please forgive me for my actions! They must have appeared quite unseemingly to you.”

Ignis blinked at her sudden change in demeanor and held his hands up in appeasement. “It’s fine. I admit I was shocked at first, but I took no offense to being whisked away by you.” He hoped the gentle teasing in his voice was noticeable and the beta peeked over at him from under her bangs.

She bit her lip lightly. “Do you really not remember me?”

Ignis tried to think, pushed his mind to its furthest point back in an attempt to take away the sorrow that bloomed in her blue eyes, but it was futile. Ignis shook his head slowly and the woman’s shoulders slumped down in sadness. 

“You are…the Oracle, correct?” Ignis asked, trying to steer the conversation away from what so obviously upset her. “Is it possible you might have seen me in a vision before? A passing remembrance of someone you had known?”

She nodded at his first question and hesitated on his second. She lifted her hand slightly, took it back, then turned it up in askance for his hand. “May I? With your permission this time?”

Ignis offered it freely and the beta turned his wrist up. She used her other hand to slowly tug off his glove, all the while looking into his eyes for continued permission, until the leather was completely off and placed next to them.

“My name is Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. I am the current Oracle of the Nox Fleuret line, down from my grandmother who helped to end the war against Niflheim before she passed. Now, I am officially the Oracle in service to Noctis Lucis Caelum, but as the Crystal quieted after the war, I go around Lucis and assure the people that as long as our powers are silent, there is no danger to be feared.”

She spoke clearly, almost rehearsed in how easily the words flowed, as she removed the glove and traced her fingers over the pale underside of Ignis’ wrist. 

“You have a birthmark, right here, that you secretly found unappealing with how asymmetric it made your wrist, but eventually came to tolerate it when my brother commented on how it made you more interesting than anyone else in Tenebrae.”

Ignis looked down at his wrist. He did have a birthmark right where she was caressing, and he did dislike it for distorting the look of his skin, but he’d never told that meritless ire to anyone. 

The woman moved her finger to trace a little lower. “You have a scar here from when you helped a rabbit escape a threatening cat. The rabbit bit you in fear when you held it, but the bite was so small that you didn’t even realize you were injured until after you released the rabbit in a safer place and I pointed out some blood dotting you.”

Ignis didn’t even know that he had a scar there, but once she removed her finger he could just barely make out a pale line against his skin. 

Ignis looked back up to the woman who stopped holding his arm. 

“You were a small child. Such a small thing. You used to run around with the other orphaned children when it was safe enough to go outside. We used to play with all the Tenebrean children while my brother watched over us alongside my mother. Your laugh was always the loudest, smile always the brightest, despite the war having taken so much from you. You studied with us. Studied more than us. Wanted to become the Advisor to my mother, and me, and Ravus. You always spoke of how, when you grew up, you’d protect us like we protected you.”

Lunafreya wiped at her eye quickly and smiled down at the table. 

“You used to say that you’d marry both me and Ravus so that you wouldn’t have to choose between us. After mother died, you stayed at Ravus’ side more often. You were only a child, barely six, but still you understood the responsibility that was placed on my brother’s shoulders in his starting teen years and wanted to lighten his heart so badly. You took a sylleblossom to his room every day. And even though he knew who they were from, Ravus still pretended like it was a secret and you would blush whenever he said that he would hold the gifter in his arms and never let go.”

Ignis felt a wetness forming in his eyes and took back his hand to wipe the tears away before they could overflow. Lunafreya watched him with such sadness that Ignis felt the unreasonable need to hold her against his chest. 

How could she know all these things about him while he couldn’t remember a single scar on his body? He could say that she was still mistaken, still had the wrong person, but the thought didn’t feel right anymore. Lunafreya looked at him with eyes that knew him, at least, once knew him, and Ignis didn’t feel a shred of a lie in any of her words. 

She knew who he was before he lost his memories, before he came to Insomnia. Ignis firmly believed that now.

“How did I end up in Lucis?” Ignis asked with only a small quiver in his voice.

Lunafreya’s eyes darkened. “When you were eight years old, you disappeared from our home. We had already unofficially adopted you while our mother was alive, and Ravus instructed to have you move in with us when you were seven. My mother’s council took over ruling the country as my brother was still too young to take the crown, but the three of us had each other and were taken seriously by our court despite our young ages. But after your eighth birthday, before the warm winds of spring even came in, you went missing. There was no note, no letter. We couldn’t find a single trace of you or where you had gone. We didn’t know if you left on your own or…”

The Oracle clenched her fists tightly, then released them with a sigh. 

“We searched for you for years. There was no sign of you left in Tenebrae. By the fourth year, Ravus had been crowned King and we had to give up our official search. But unofficially, Ravus used his new command to scout intelligence around our country and I began my first travels to Lucis in search of my own clues.”

Lunafreya smoothed down her already pristine dress and peeked her gaze up from her bangs sheepishly again.

“I met King Regis and prince Noctis during that first year. Our meeting was short, but the King and I had continued speaking after I left. I became the unofficial ambassador between our countries for both King Regis and my brother, and also an honorary Oracle for the King whenever I had a vision granted by the Crystal. It was…nice…during that time. But then…”

Her eyes flashed a brilliant blue, akin almost to Noctis’ fury red, and she straightened her back into a royal stance befitting her status. “The King called me to ask about a young boy who arrived on his doorstep seven years ago. He wanted to know if he could be trusted, taken in. And he also said that the boy’s name was Ignis.”

Ignis shuddered as a sudden cold wind blew past and needed a second to gather his thoughts as he distracted his hands by putting on his glasses and glove.

“But you didn’t come back to Insomnia,” Ignis finally said once the shiver passed.

“I did not,” Lunafreya agreed and nodded her head. “But I wanted to. So badly. Ravus and I both wanted to. However, I was told you arrived battered and beaten. The thoughts that raced through our minds ranged from kidnapping, to you living on the streets of Insomnia and had needed to fight to survive. But you were under question, and King Regis promised me that you were being placed under strict protection, so we stayed back in order to keep suspicion low on you. How would it have looked if two royals from another country demanded an injured child to be returned to them as if you were a runaway servant or thief? We didn’t want to toss more questioning onto you if you had indeed left willingly and needed a safe place to reside.”

Ignis placed a hand on his forehead to rub at the headache beginning to form behind his eyes. 

What a mess. So did he run away as a child from what appeared to be a loving relationship between himself and the royal family of Tenebrae? Could he fully believe the words the Oracle was saying? Why would he have left such a life when it sounded like his future was bright with plenty of possibilities laid open for him? And what happened during the years Lunafreya could not account for? Where was he then?

Ignis jolted when a hand touched his arm again and he uncovered his eyes to see the Oracle staring at him with a worried expression.

“You need not fully trust my words just yet, but please. If there is anything you believe me say, it is that my brother and I cared for you so much. You were our brother, and we did everything we could to find you back then.”

Ignis hesitated, but eventually placed his hand over hers. “I believe you, more than what I reasonably should. I may not remember our shared past, but I do not doubt that everything you have told me is anything less than the truth.”

Lunafreya’s eyes lit up in happiness and she gently squeezed his arm.

“Let us get a room to rest for the night. There are so many more things I wish to speak to you about, but I can see the exhaustion in your face setting in.”

Ignis blushed at her assessment and allowed himself to be led inside the hotel at the Oracle’s whim.

***

The bed was nothing compared to his own back in Insomnia, but Ignis still woke in the morning feeling more refreshed than he had felt in months. He freshened himself in the bathroom, did what he could to fix up his clothes from yesterday, and went back out to stand in the center of his hotel space.

The room was sparsely decorated, a minimal aesthetic that suited Ignis just fine, and was easily drowned in light when the omega opened the curtains to take in the morning light. Down below, Ignis could already see groups of people walking around with baskets filled with fruits and bread and he was tempted to go out and explore what this city was like in the morning compared to the previous festive-filled night.

A knock sounded at his door first before that thought could bloom too far and found the Oracle smiling in wait once he opened the finely crafted door.

She offered her hand in askance for his. “Good morning. Would you like to go out with me to find some breakfast?”

Ignis only needed a moment to place his hand inside of hers and nodded.

The two walked hand in hand down a different street than where Lunafreya had taken him down before, and soon they were in the midst of a type of marketplace that was already bustling with life despite the early hour.

Ignis looked around him in awe at all the fresh ingredients that were for sale, some little trinkets that he thought Prompto would like for his collection of oddities, a book stall that had the newest volume of the series Gladio was last reading, and a small shop that had fishing lures on display that he knew Noctis would have loved to see.

All the reminders of what he had abandoned suddenly dampened Ignis’ mood and Lunafreya was quick to draw him away once she noticed his trampled enthusiasm. 

She pulled him to a small in the corner store that turned out to be a bakery, and even Ignis in his morose mood could not deny the heavenly scents that circled in the air.

“This is my favorite spot in all of Lestallum,” the Oracle smiled at him and pointed to the pastry display filled to the brim with differently colored filled breads. “Ravus isn’t one for sweets, but even he enjoys these treats whenever I bring him some back home.”

Ignis let her decide on the batch and pulled out his wallet before she could deny.

“Allow me this small repayment for all that you told me yesterday,” he said and the beta held her stuffed takeaway bag tightly to her chest.

The market was a little too crowded for them to enjoy their food, so Lunafreya led Ignis to the city entrance that overlooked the cliff.

The view was gorgeous and Ignis took a moment to just breath everything in as he leaned against the stone barrier to keep him from falling.

Once he was done, the Oracle offered him a sweet and they sat at a free table overlooking the sky. They each ate in silence as they listened to the birds chirping overhead and the tree leaves being blown in the wind.

“Thank you for this, Lady Lunafreya,” Ignis whispered as he stared above at the clouds. “This morning means more to me than I can express in words.”

“You’re very welcome,” she replied before wiping her mouth delicately with a napkin. “But please, call me Luna.”

Ignis looked down at her. “That is hardly acceptable for one of my station.”

The beta just gave him a look and Ignis balked a little at her incredulous gaze. 

“Would Lady Luna suffice?”

Lunafreya sighed and Ignis took that as a yes.

The two took to staring at the sky again in silence, but once the surrounding people all left and they were properly alone, Luna took a deep breath and looked to Ignis.

“I know that you must have millions of questions for me,” she began and Ignis was already nodding before she even finished, “but there is something that I must ask first before we continue last night’s discussion.”

Luna hesitated for the first time that morning and Ignis tried to sit even straighter than he already was in preparation.

“I’m so happy to have found you again. All these years of hoping, wishing, and suddenly…you appear in front of me. As if by divine intervention. I thanked each of the Astrals individually last night for granting me my wish, but even if this meeting was a gift, I must ask: why now?”

The Oracle stared directly into Ignis’ eyes as Ignis tried not to swallow too loudly. “Why are you in Lestallum after spending the last seven years exclusively in Insomnia?”

Ignis felt as if Lunafreya was staring directly into his very soul and he couldn’t help the unconscious movement of his hand over his stomach. He tried to keep his gaze directly with hers, but his eyes flicked down minutely and her eyes followed despite the glance only lasting a second.

He could see the cogs turning inside Lunafreya’s head as he quickly moved his hand away, but when she tossed her gaze back to him, Ignis turned his head away in shame as a confirmation to the question within her eyes.

Luna covered her mouth with a delicate hand and Ignis barely caught the whispered “oh” that came with an exhaled breath.

“How long…?”

“Four months, apparently,” Ignis said with his head still turned away. His voice may be strong, but his expressions were still weak. “I found out myself only recen…yesterday.” Ignis correctly himself quickly so as to match the honesty Lunafreya offered him last night.

“Is it…?”

Ignis gave a very slight nod but couldn’t bring himself to say the name she asked for out loud just yet.

“Ignis,” she whispered and reached to squeeze his hand. “Why did you leave?”

Honesty for honesty, Ignis reminded himself but still refused to raise his head. “The people of Lucis are very kind, caring for those who are within their territory. Most are. But those who do not care for foreigners, especially foreigners who are close to the royal family, are very loud. They are not shy in their hatred, and I feared…the royal family does not deserve their people’s ire, especially the prince. I could handle their stares, their words, but I will not allow them to turn against his Highness simply because of his affections for me.”

Lunafreya’s hand tightened around his as Ignis found the strength to look up again. 

“I had to leave; to protect the prince, and the child who is innocent in all this. They will not be harmed because of my failings.”

Lunafreya’s eyes transformed through so many emotions that Ignis had a difficult time distinguishing them all. There was anger, fury, then sadness and pity. Disappointment and guilt. Worry. Until she finally settled on the same loving expression Ignis had seen from the Queen so many times as he was growing up.

“You are still taking suppressants?” the Oracle asked. Ignis nodded. Luna grabbed onto his head with both hands and made him look only at her as her grip held his trembling form steady.

“Will you come with me to Tenebrae? Allow me to return you to your first home? You need not stay forever, but you will be safe to carry your child. Safe to live as you want. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

Tears pricked at the corner of Ignis’ eyes and tiny droplets began sticking to his lens as he closed his eyes.

Leave Lucis? Leave the only country he knew and travel to one he had only read about in reports? But…he didn’t really know Lucis. He knew Insomnia, and even then only what he could glean for himself with supervision. He had no ties to the country as a whole, and he had already come to terms with abandoning his home, so…why not?

Noctis’ imaged flashed through Ignis’ mind and he had to suppress the whimper that threatened to come out at the reminder.

Ignis opened his eyes and stared into Lunafreya’s hopeful face.

He bit his lip harshly, grateful that the sudden pain wiped Noctis’ face from his mind, and agreed to go.

***

Lady Lunafreya had already planned on leaving Lestallum during the week, but Ignis’ acceptance of traveling with her had the Oracle calling up her brother to bring them an airship within the day. 

Ignis only had his one bag of supplies and his car as his sole possessions, but decided to leave his car when asked by Luna what he needed to get before they left.

Ignis had researched Niflheim airships in his teenage years as part of his historic studies, but the one that had come to pick them up looked nothing like what he had seen before. 

The machine had to be at least ten times smaller than what Ignis had originally expected to see. The airships used during the war were said to be able to hold over a hundred men and their battle tanks, but this one could only hold comfortably ten people, including the pilot. 

Ignis had his reservations but followed after a beckoning Lunafreya when she saw him hesitating by the lowered stairs.

The flight itself was smooth, even easier than all the times Ignis had driven his car, and the view from the window was breathtaking. It felt like all of Lucis could be seen from up there, and the land appeared to expand out forever. Ignis’ gaze followed wherever Luna pointed with an excitement the omega hadn’t felt in ages, until she called attention to Inosmnia’s shadowed landscape growing smaller with distance and Ignis didn’t feel like looking out the window anymore. 

***

“We’re here!”

Lunafreya was practically bouncing in her seat as they waited for the airship to land, then leapt to her feet the second the pilot cleared it safe for her to do so. The hatched opened for her and she turned around to offer Ignis her hand. He took it with a small smile and was gently led off the machine.

Tenebrae was the most beautiful area Ignis had ever been in. 

The landscape was lush and green, trees and foliage as far as the eye could see, with structures almost built similarly to the Citadel castle strewn about in what Ignis assumed was their city. Where Insomnia was built with artificial straight lines and edges, structures packed together like the building blocks that were given to children, Tenebrae flourished with the curves of nature. There were now apartment buildings or skyscrapers to obscure the image of the sky, and the air was so fresh that Ignis almost couldn’t believe that he was on the same planet.

Lunafreya gently tugged on Ignis’ hand to bring his attention back.

“Did you know anything about Tenebrae before this?” she asked as she walked backwards towards the nearest castle.

“Only what I’ve read from reports dealing with political matters.”

The beta looked around slightly before she motioned to an empty area. “This is where we used to play with all the other children. There was so much room for us to run that sometimes we even transformed into our dragons to play chase.”

Ignis looked around them. While the area felt…off, no, nostalgic almost, he couldn’t recall the memory that Luna was talking about. 

When Ignis glanced back to the Oracle and slowly shook his head, her shoulders dropped a bit before she sighed and smiled brightly again.

“Well, there’s plenty of time to reminisce later. Ravus is dying to see you and I’d like to get you comfortable as soon as possible.”

The beta paused a second and looked down to Ignis’ stomach. 

“You will need to see a doctor as well,” she said and squeezed the hand she was still holding tightly. “How long has it been since you last took a suppressant?”

Ignis tilted his head. “About two days. I haven’t been able to since I…left Insomnia.”

Luna nodded. “Hopefully that’ll be enough to allow that doctor to check you properly. You’re natural scent has not arisen yet, but I’m hoping within the day it’ll come back.”

Ignis flinched. “You don’t want me taking suppressants anymore?”

“It,” Luna paused. “You don’t want people to know you’re carrying?”

Ignis tried to pull his hand away but Lunafreya was stronger than she looked and managed to completely turn his body around to face her without putting much pressure on his wrist. She placed a hand against his cheek and the calming scent of beta permeated the air around them. 

“No one will harm you here, Ignis,” she murmured and Ignis’ raised heartbeat slowly began to soothe. “No one will harm your child.”

“That’s not…”

His child’s well being was a fear that he had, a very concerning one that made Ignis’ dragon want to hide away in the forest so that no one could ever come close to him, but that fear had only emerged recently. He’d had months worth of time taking his suppressants everyday to hide his omega, and years worth of practice hiding his scent to make sure he didn’t accidentally give off his pheromones. He’d trained himself to be invisible, to be ignorable by hiding his omega self. And in all that time, Ignis had always had a small thought lingering in the back of his mind that as long as no one noticed him, no one would look at him.

The stares he’d received in his adolescence had been frightening in their intensity, but he understood the confusion the people felt at his presence. The mutterings behind his back whenever he walked around the Citadel as he aged had been unsettling in their omnipresence, but he could overlook them whenever he was around the prince. But the anger, the utter hatred that was directed towards him was not something Ignis had ever expected to experience in the home that had been so warm to him before. He didn’t want to impose such an ugly reality to the King and Queen, who gave him a world of purity with their kindness, and he didn’t want to bring the prince down with him into the gutter of noble society when all he had done was offer Ignis his love.

There was also a part of Ignis, a secret, selfish part of Ignis, that was scared for himself, too.

What would the people of Tenebrae think of him once they found out he was once a part of them? What would the kind Lunafreya think of him when she realized that he wasn’t the same child she had known in her childhood? Did she know the rumors of how Ignis was suspected of being an artificial omega? Was this all a rouse to get him to come back and be caged now that they had captured him again?

Was this why he had left Tenebrae? 

“Ignis!”

It was all too perfect. What were the chances of him running into a person that knew his upbringing the first moment he left the city walls? What were the odds that he had grown up with that person?

“Ignis, breathe!”

That had to be it; there was no other conclusion he could make. 

He’d walked right into their trap and Ignis had no one to blame but himself for it.

The world was beginning to darken around the corners of his vision and when Ignis blinked he saw the Oracle hunched over him and another man walking closer behind her. 

Ignis could feel his heart speeding up from its already incredible pace and his eyes closed despite his mind screaming at him to stay alert. 

“Ravus! I don’t know, he just collapsed and I—”

Ignis couldn’t hear the rest of what Lunafreya said as a buzzing in his ears overtook that last of his hearing.

I’m sorry Noctis, Ignis thought before his consciousness faded into nothing.

***

When Ignis awoke it was to a dark room and with a warm cloth draped over his forehead. He groaned at the pounding in his head and tried to swallow down the nausea that was building in his throat as he attempted to push himself up from his reclined position.

The sound of a door opening had Ignis freezing in place, but a soothing hum stopped him before he could bolt away.

Soft hands rubbed at his knees and he squinted at the bowed head kneeling before him.

“How are you feeling?” Ignis recognized the Oracle’s voice as she asked and he couldn’t decide if he wanted to relax at her presence or tense even further.

“What happened?” Ignis replied instead and Lunafreya’s blue eyes looked up into his.

“You had a panic attack. We brought you inside to this room, we being my brother and I, after you passed out from hyperventilation. I haven’t brought a doctor yet, I wanted your permission on that first, but your breathing returned to normal once you were asleep and I figured that it would be okay if I just watched you until you awoke by yourself.”

“I…” Ignis looked around the room as well as he could without his glasses until the beta reached for something on a side table and handed him his spectacles. She didn’t try to move closer or invade his space, but Ignis blushed once he put on his glasses and realized that the Oracle herself was kneeling before him.

“Please get up!” Ignis gasped and sat up quickly, but Lunafreya just grabbed onto his hand and held him in place before he could get off the bed.

“You must relax Ignis,” she muttered. “You just awoke from a panic attack; I don’t want you to place more stress onto yourself.”

Only Ignis’ years of Advisor training allowed him to force his body into the same stillness he employed during overdrawn meetings, but could not stop his hands from shaking.

The Oracle was kind enough not to mention it.

“What time is it?” Ignis asked as he tried to locate a window in the room.

“Late,” the beta said indirectly. “You’ve been asleep for seven hours now. It’s the middle of the night.”

Ignis twitched.

“Your eyes are still sunken,” Lunafreya said as she reached out to touch his face, but thought better of it before she could. “You should go back to resting.”

Ignis shook his head. “I’m alright.”

“You are four months carrying and just passed out from stress,” the beta said in a not accusing but fact stating tone. “Sleep.”

The door opened behind her and Ignis nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise as he tempered down the sudden urge to run away from the intruder.

Lunafreya however simply sighed and lowered her head onto Ignis’ legs.

“Ravus.”

The same man Ignis vaguely remembered from before turned on the lights in the room and the sudden exposure had Ignis instantly covering his eyes. He tried to peek through the cracks of his fingers to still see what the man would do, and, for such an intimidating person, the silver haired man recoiled upon seeing Ignis’ pain and rushed to flip the switch again.

“Sorry,” he mumbled and the room suddenly smelled like admonished alpha.

“I told you to wait until tomorrow,” Lunafreya lightly scolded.

The man frowned and crossed his arms.

“He was awake.”

Lunafreya grabbed onto a pillow from the bed Ignis had been sleeping on and elegantly threw it at, who Ignis assumed was, her brother.

Ignis didn’t know that it was possible to elegantly throw something and considered what he just saw as the pillow smacked Ravus in the face.

“I still told you to wait,” the beta’s kind voice tilted up at the end and Ravus clenched the pillow in his hand.

The King of Tenebrae looked like he wanted to retaliate and readied the pillow for a quick second as the Oracle snatched up another pillow to defend herself with while still kneeling on the floor in front of Ignis.

The whole situation was so absurd and the previous few days appeared to have finally caught up to Ignis as he couldn’t stop himself from gasping in laughter and curled into himself to cover his mouth.

The two siblings stopped whatever pillow war was attempting to begin as they watched Ignis go from a giggling mess to a sobbing man and the omega felt both sides of the bed lower as they surrounded him with pats and coos to try and have him calm down.

Ravus’ alpha scent caught Ignis’ nose and made Ignis bit his lip to keep from howling when he realized that that was the wrong alpha he wanted near him now.

Everything was simply too much. Ignis had turned away from his home and his love within the course of a few hours, and now he was in an entirely new country that was supposed to be his birthplace yet he had no memory of anything he was apparently meant to. His trust of the people around him had been shaken and he wasn’t sure if he could believe anything that they said anymore with his initial blind trust.

Ignis was also tired, and alone, and even though he was the one to turn him away, Ignis wanted nothing more than to be with Noctis again. 

His distressed omega mourned with him right up until Ignis’ breath stabilized and he was able to temper down his thoughts back into coherency from the panic. 

There was no clear passage of time that Ignis could determine and eventually the two older dragons just let him cry out as they held him between them. No one spoke, there was no encouragement or disapproval, and Ignis appreciated the silence as he finally calmed himself enough to wipe the tears off his face.

“Feeling better?” Lunafreya asked once his chest stopped heaving so intensely.

Ignis nodded and wiped off the tear droplets that clung to his glasses on his shirt. He peeked up through his hair and Ravus turned away when their eyes met.

“I’m sorry for the spectacle,” Ignis apologized and cleared his throat with a cough.

“You never need to apologize here, Ignis,” Lunafreya said and tapped her brother on his knee to grab his attention.

The two of them stood from the bed and Luna cocked her head to the door. “You’ve had such a long day, Ignis. We’ll leave you to your rest now and we can talk more in the morning, alright?”

Ignis’ hand twitched as if to stop her from leaving, but he nodded in agreement so as to not embarrass himself more.

Lunafreya smiled at him warmly and Ravus nodded before they walked through the door and closed it behind them. Ignis waited until he couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore, then collapsed back within the remaining pillows as he became a trembling mess of nerves and regret.

***

For as much as Ignis tried to go back to sleep, his mind was simply racing too much for the rest to come. 

He tossed and turned for what felt like hours before he just gave up on the effort altogether. He rolled onto his side and stared at the curtained window. The sky behind it was lighting up from its midnight blue night into a gentle dawn, and Ignis figured that now would be as good a time as any to get out of bed.

The omega got to his feet gingerly and searched for his shoes. He was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, Ignis wrinkled his nose in distaste before sighing, but noticed a light robe draped across the length of the couch and he plucked the material off to put it on.

His shoes were still missing, but there was a pair of slippers to match the robe, so they would have to do.

Ignis quietly opened the door and looked outside. There was no sign of anyone in the hallway, and no sounds that suggested there were any people around at all, so Ignis stepped out and made sure that the door didn’t close completely behind him in the case if he would have to run back inside quickly.

The hallways he passed were tiled with stonework and gave Ignis the impression that he was walking through a fairytale castle as he mentally compared it to the modern white walls he had walked through most of his life in the Citadel. The light grey stones were smooth to the touch, Ignis having not seen his gloves left his hands bare, but the walls gave off a gentle warmth that seeped into Ignis’ body and left him feeling more comforted than when he had been alone in the room.

It wasn’t what he was used to, by any means, but Ignis could not ignore the feeling like he knew these walls even more intimately than where he worked and he ran his hands over the stones to take in even more heat.

He passed by many closed doors, unwilling to open anything for fear of what was on the other side, until he came across an already ajar door and glanced behind it.

For all Ignis was expecting to be there, he had not imagined it to lead to a garden and Ignis couldn’t help himself from taking a step outside.

The area was beautiful; filled on all sides with flowers and greenery that swayed lightly with the wind, which created an illusion of waves rippling through all the plant life. The smell in the air was almost a perfume of honey and morning showers. It was pleasant, and relaxing.

It was nostalgic and brought tears to Ignis’ eyes.

The omega jerked in surprise at his response and went to wipe the water from his eyes.

“Do you remember these flowers?”

Ignis had enough control of himself not to scream, but he flinched at the voice and hesitantly turned around.

King Ravus stood watching him. His platinum hair blew with the wind just as the flowers were, but it remained controlled around his face, almost as if his hair knew not to disrespect the head it was on by avoiding any mess or tangles anyone else’s hair would have been in.

His heterochromatic eyes were trained directly on Ignis. The omega knew he should have felt discomforted around such an intimidating alpha, or at least preparing to defend against him, but Ignis could sense nothing but contemplation and ease from the other dragon.

The King stepped closer to him, met Ignis at the center of the circle of flowers, and his white coat billowed around him as he walked. The alpha looked around them and Ignis had to force himself not to stare too long at the other’s beauty.

“They’re sylleblossom,” Ravus continued, and Ignis remembered that he never answered the King’s original question.

“It’s beautiful here,” Ignis murmured. 

“This garden was my mother’s.”

Ignis looked back at Ravus.

The taller kept his gaze locked ahead for a few breathes until he glanced down at Ignis.

“You used to spend the most time out here with her.”

Ignis bit his lip and cast his gaze away again.

“Lunafreya tells me that you have no memory of our past together. Is that true?”

Ignis hesitated, then nodded. He heard Ravus sigh.

From the corner of his eye, Ignis saw the King bend down to pluck a flower from the patch, then held it for a while. Eventually, Ravus turned to be closer to Ignis and he delicately placed the flower behind Ignis’ ear as Ignis’ breath caught in his throat.

“You’ve grown even more beautiful than I remember,” Ravus said and Ignis titled his head up to catch the other’s eye.

“Your Majesty?”

“You were always by my side, after we lost mother. Always there to make all my efforts worth it. Your smiles could get me through the whole day no matter what strife I was going through.”

Ignis blushed under Ravus’ attention, but couldn’t look away no matter how hard his heart was fluttering. The King’s hand played with a loose piece of Ignis’ hair.

“I was so devastated when we lost you. So maddened.” The alpha’s eyes flashed in anger. “And now you’re back within my grasp.”

Ignis trembled slightly in confusion. “Majes…Ravus?”

Ravus leaned in closer, their forehead touching as he breathed in Ignis’ scent, then tensed suddenly as his eyes bore into Ignis’. The King searched for something within Ignis’ gaze, desperately looked for an answer Ignis did not know how to give, then gave out a shuddering breath as he placed a single kiss on Ignis’ forehead. 

He took a step back and Ignis was still shivering.

“You look pale. We shall go inside and get you something warm to eat.”

The King turned his back and walked through the door Ignis had ventured though. 

Ignis touched the spot where he was kissed, then followed after Ravus.

***

Ignis followed after the King into the kitchen, where Lunafreya was already up and waiting for them. Her eyes lit up when she saw them and motioned for Ignis to come sit with her at the table.

“Were you able to sleep well last night?” she asked.

Ignis sheepishly smiled and shrugged his shoulder. “As well as I could, considering my outburst. I really am sorry for my shameful display last night.”

“Nonsense,” the Oracle brushed off. “We were the ones to overwhelm you too quickly. In hindsight, I should have shown you the city before bringing you straight to our home. I apologize for my eagerness.”

Ignis noticed Ravus grab a muffin from the counter and stood up quickly.

“May I offer to make us breakfast?” he asked as he was already inching to their refrigerator. The siblings blinked at his sudden question and appeared to be too thrown off to stop him from grabbing a carton of eggs.

“But you’re our guest,” Lunafreya started, but Ignis shook his head as he took a few more ingredients that caught his eye.

“It’s the least I could do for your hospitality. And,” Ignis threw the two a small smile as fond memories came to the front of his mind, “I used to cook all the time for his Highness back in Insomnia. It would make me happy to do the same for you as well.”

Ignis saw Ravus’ lip curl at the mention of Noctis, but Lunafreya’s eyes softened and she nodded her consent.

“Pans and such are in hanging above the sink. Help yourself to whatever you need.”

Ignis easily fell into a rhythm he hasn’t been in since before he and Noctis mated, and was able to easily dance across the kitchen once he became acquainted with where everything was. Cooking for the prince had been some of the best highlights of his day, and while his heart panged at what once was, Ignis couldn’t help the joy he felt at being able to cook for others once again.

It was only once he finished the three servings of his creamy crustacean omelettes that Ignis realized that he hasn’t seen a single other person come through the room yet.

“Are we alone in the castle today?” Ignis questioned as he served the siblings their plates. 

Lunafreya beamed at the food and stared at Ignis in wonder.

“The servants have left us to our own devices at the moment,” Ravus responded and smiled slightly at Ignis once he got his own plate. “They normally do not bother us when they see we are handling ourselves.”

Lunafreya waited until Ignis sat with them to take her first bite. She hummed in happiness and Ignis could have sworn that there were stars in her eyes when she looked to him.

“This is marvelous!”

Ignis lowered his head as he took his own bite. 

“Were you made to cook for the Caelums often when you lived with them?” Ravus tried to ask nonchalantly as he twisted his fork around and stared at the egg.

“Only his Highness,” Ignis replied. “And it was by my own desire. His and her Majesties never asked me to take care of the prince in such a way, but his Highness enjoyed my food so obviously that it was hard not to cook for him.”

Ravus scowled again as he ate. 

“Would you tell me some more about your life in Insomnia?” Lunafreya requested as she finished her plate.

Ignis set his fork down and stared at his partially eaten breakfast. 

“It was…nice, living at the Citadel for my teenage years. The Majesties were like family with how kindly they treated me, and I was informally adopted by a Mr. Scientia almost as soon as I…arrived, so I was never without care or parental guidance while I was there. I was quickly given the opportunity to become a future Advisor to his Highness and entered training, and all was…so well while I was growing up.”

Ignis looked up to stare at the wall in remembrance with a smile on his face. 

“I also became very close to his Highness and his friends. They were…very dear to me.”

Lunafreya and Ravus shared a look.

“You became friends with Noctis’ friends?”

Ignis flinched at the name but tried to cover it with a smile. “Yes. I met Prompto when he and his Highness were still in high school and he presented to be a perfect beta for the prince’s later pack. He’s an energetic dragon overflowing with kindness for whomever he meets and was able to draw his Highness out of his proverbial shell once they began hanging out together. I also met his Highness’ Shield not long after I first arrived. He cares so much for his Highness, and is the perfect alpha protector for him to have.”  
“Ignis…” Lunafreya started, but hesitated after saying his name. “You speak of all this in a past tense, and you left Insomnia despite all these fond memories you are describing. Did things change for you?”

Ignis shrugged and tried not look too obviously guilty.

“Nothing changed, per say, except that I got too close to his Highness. I became greedy for his attention and I was admonished for it.”

The Oracle’s eyes narrowed and Ravus snarled lowly under his breath. “How did they admonish you?”

Ignis pushed away his half eaten food. “The people, the King’s court, did not like that I was taking so much of their royals’ attention. Especially his Highness’. After his Highness presented into the perfect alpha, the court wanted him to find a mate and feared that I would steal the prince for myself despite not being Lucian-born. They were angry, and I could not allow their anger to transfer from me onto the prince.”

“And that is why you left?” Lunafreya prompted.

Ignis bit his lip and shook his head. “After I presented, I made the mistake of…mating…with the prince. I tried to avoid him immediately after our coupling, and the council’s attention eased on both myself and their desire for the prince to bond, so I thought things could return to how they were, but…by some accident I was…I got…” He gestured to his stomach vaguely. “I refused to let my failures be brought to his Highness, who had no fault in this whatsoever besides accepting my greedy whims, and left.”

“To protect him,” Ravus snarled and the scent of irate alpha flooded the area. Lunafreya tempered out her own beta scent to calm him, and at least got her brother to stop clenching his fists.

“For multiple reasons,” Ignis corrected, and for the first time in years he scented his omega fill the air to help calm the still angered alpha. Ignis blushed at the realization that his suppressants must have almost completely worn off from so many days of not taking them and both siblings sat up straight in their seats once they scented him too.

The Oracle’s mouth opened slightly with a silent ‘oh’ and the King looked away with a red tinge to his cheeks.

“You,” Lunafreya started and shook her head, “forgive us for our manners. I understood that you presented as an omega in theory, but I guess that I didn’t really believe that until right now.”

Ravus sniffed at the omega-infused air and sent Ignis a glance of concern and helpless wonder from the corner of his eye. 

“Was I…not showing signs of being an omega as a child?” Ignis asked. The beta shook her head. 

“You were every bit the definition of a perfect beta when you were young. There was never any guarantee for it, mind you, but my instincts as an Oracle were hardly ever wrong. Even as a child. But…there are exceptions for everything.”

Ignis narrowed his eyes at the admission. 

Ravus shook his head to clear himself of the air and stood. He offered Ignis is hand to help the omega up as well.

Ignis looked up at him in confusion.

“It angers me that another alpha had you, but I will not allow you to be neglected by my jealousy. You must see a doctor now to assure that your foolishness has not harmed you.”

Ignis blushed again and hesitantly took Ravus’ hand. He looked back at the plates and saw Lunafreya wave him off. 

“My brother is right: go see a professional right away, especially since you had an episode yesterday. The dishes will be taken care of easily.”

Ravus tugged on Ignis’ hand and led him off before the omega could say anything opposing the Oracle.

***

Time felt like it moved differently in Tenebrae than in Insomnia. At least to Ignis.

The past four months had been the longest Ignis had ever had in all his life, but the past week in Tenebrae was the quickest blink of an eye he had ever gone through. Ignis throughly admonished himself the second day for doubting the kindness within the royal siblings during his first night.

Lunafreya spared no time in showing him around her city, taking him to all the beautiful landmarks and homey shopping centers that were her favorite places to visit as she grew up. Ravus also came along with them, ignoring the his kingly duties no doubt in the process, just to keep an eye on Ignis and make sure that nothing harmed him while he was out.

While Ignis felt embarrassed at the alpha’s attention, he couldn’t shake the affection that had spontaneously erupted in his heart for the blond dragon and allowed him to shadow over Ignis with as much good grace as the omega could give. And they had a lot in common as well, so it wasn’t uncomfortable having Ravus around either.

The three enjoyed each other’s company implicitly, and sought the others out almost unconsciously when they had been apart for too long of a time.

“May we see your dragon form, Ignis? We haven’t seen you since you presented.” Lunafreya asked one afternoon as they were lounging and Ignis transformed in front of the two royal siblings. 

Lunafreya squealed at his size and Ignis tried to hide his head in Ravus’ chest as she coddled him. 

“Your scales are even more beautiful than when we were children!” Luna exclaimed as she pet along his side in wonder at their shine. 

“They are more silver than I remember,” Ravus said as he also pet Ignis’ head. “You used to be more blond to match your hair.”

Ignis felt that that information should have been important to him, but he chalked it up to the aging process and filed it away to think about later.

Ignis was content in Tenebrae, at peace. But Ignis’ omega never stopped feeling the pain of separation from Noctis, and every night since he arrived, Ignis huddled in his given bed to stare out the window and pray that Noctis was doing well on his own back in Insomnia. 

Ignis never got much sleep during the nights, a fact that both royal siblings had no problem pointing out whenever they saw him in the morning, but Ignis didn’t mind the tiredness overmuch.

His doctor in Tenebrae was a pleasant enough beta who had much the same concerns as Dr. Cerge did and directed him into different methods to help control his anemia and growing child. They didn’t mention his status as omega besides the normal checkup, and Ignis welcomed the change in no one commenting on how strange he was.

He did catch Lunafreya and Ravus whispering to themselves more than a few times about Ignis’ condition, though, and while they charmingly directed the conversation away from their secrets, Ignis knew that they were also concerned over his status being so different from what they expected him to grow into.

But since no one had an answer to their questions and all they could so was speculate, Ignis decided that for the first time in his life he was not going to worry about it.

He had given up taking his suppressants and relished in being able to simply exist as he was without any other thought, and it was exhilarating.

He got more looks than he was prepared for, and he could not take one step in view of another dragon without them asking if he needed anything, but compared to the angry looks of the Citadel, he accepted all the well-wishers with overt thanks.

It was the best week Ignis had had since…

And the baby was growing well. That was all Ignis could ask for.

“Is Ravus not going to join us today?” Ignis asked Lunafreya as they were preparing to leave for a new restaurant destination that the Oracle had been talking about all week.

“I think he has a visitor from Niflheim coming sometime today, so he’s preparing for that visit with his advisors before they come.”

Ignis shivered at the mention of Niflheim but figured that it was an inappropriate response given that Tenebrae was part of the Empire nation. Lunafreya thankfully didn’t ask after his reaction and Ignis kept his mouth closed on the matter.

He never told the siblings about what he had said before he’s lost his memory in Insomnia, and didn’t feel it necessary to bring to their attention.

The two walked past the great hall and Ignis hesitated just long enough while contemplating if he should bid farewell to Ravus that Luna stopped walking and waited for Ignis to catch up.

A pair of footsteps startled the two back to awareness as a man halted once he noticed them standing in front of the throne room. 

The man was dressed in a midnight black trench coat with a black top hat tilted forward that messed his already unruly red hair even more than it already was. His amber eyes glinted with interest as he raked over Lunafreya’s form and absolutely gleamed when he noticed Ignis standing behind her. 

“Chancellor Izunia,” Lunafreya bowed and subtly moved to stand even more in front of Ignis. “I heard that we’d be having a visitor, but I was not aware that it would be you.”

Ignis had heard of Ardyn Izunia before in his work as Advisor. He knew that he was the chancellor of Niflheim that King Regis had delegated with repeatedly concerning political matters after the war, but Ignis had never seen any image of the man before.

He was…underwhelming for all that the King had said about him.

Ardyn briefly looked at Luna as she bowed, but his attention almost immediately went back to Ignis as he raked over his body. Ignis felt the hair on his neck stand on end, and his omega was practically screaming at him to run away, but Ignis squared his shoulders and bowed as well.

“No need to worry, my dear. My visit is a bit early for when we first agreed I’d come, but, well, I was in the area and I’d heard that you two had taken in a little stray bird into your nest again.”

Ardyn walked forward and quickly grabbed onto Ignis’ hand as the omega straightened up from his bow. Ignis jolted a bit, but he’d had enough practice as Advisor to be professional around political figures, no matter how rude or forward they were.

“And what a pretty bird you are,” Ardyn purred and Ignis’ omega hissed in anger.

Luna broke their connection by moving Ignis away. “Yes, we are very lucky to have him here with us, but if you’d excuse us Chancellor, we were just on our way out when we interrupted your time with my brother.”

Lunafreya gave her glowing smile as she pushed Ignis away, but Ardyn didn’t even pretend to acknowledge her this time as he kept his eyes solely on Ignis as they walked away.

Before they turned the corner though, Ignis saw Ardyn tip his hat at him.

“Until we met again, Ignis.”

***

“Is he staying long, Lady Lunafreya?” 

“No. He should be gone by the time we get back. I’ll have Ravus message me once they are done.”

“I see.”

***

Ignis could not sleep that night.

He and Lunafreya were out for the majority of the day, going out of their way to stay busy well into the evening when Ravus had finally called his sister to tell them that Ardyn had left the castle grounds as reported by a servant. 

Luna kept Ignis close to her side until they made it back where Ravus growled in anger as he sniffed at the hand Ardyn had shook with Ignis.

“You let him touch him?”

“I had no choice, he moved too quickly for me to follow.”

Ignis had asked after Ardyn, but the two shared the look they had done often enough that Ignis interpreted meant ‘keep Ignis in the dark’, and simply said that he was an eccentric man who was best to be ignored for as long as humanly possible. 

They’d had dinner and Ravus escorted Ignis to his room.

“Ravus, would you please tell me what has you so spooked?”

The King ran a hand through his hair and avoided looking at Ignis. 

“That man has always been an ill omen around Tenebrae. We deal with him as we should, then escort him as far away as we can once his business is finished. It will be best if you stayed in your rooms the next time he is here.”

“But—”

Ravus closed the door before Ignis could ask any more questions.

And thus, Ignis’ mind raced with all the uncertain feelings he had felt throughout the day and could not find the rest he was meant to be having.

So, Ignis left his bed. He dressed in a simple shirt and slacks from his recovered bag of clothes and slipped out of his room.

The sun had already been set for a few hours by then, and all the servants had gone to bed as well, so Ignis had no problem making it to the garden he’d found without notice. 

The garden he and Ravus had first spoken in a week ago had quickly become his favorite place in Tenebrae for when he needed to clear his head, and Ignis sat on a stone bench he had found while observing the flowers a few nights ago. The air was clean, the sky was filled with stars that he’d never been able to see in Insomnia; but while the night was calm and peaceful, Ignis could not stop his heart from beating rapidly in suspense. 

Ignis titled his head to the night sky and closed his eyes to try and slow his heart rate.

‘Are you doing well, Noctis?’ Ignis prayed up to the stars. ‘I hope you are. There hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t thought of you since I left so selfishly. I hope that you can one day forgive me for my weakness.’

“I miss you,” Ignis whispered into the night and slowly opened his eyes.

“As I’ve missed you, my dear.”

Ignis jolted in surprise at the sudden voice and struggled as an arm wrapped around his torso to cease his movements. Ignis tried to call for help when a cloth covered his mouth and a strong scent entered his nose that instantly weakened his mind and loosened his limbs. 

Ignis swayed to the side and just barely caught the sight of glowing amber eyes underneath a mess of red hair before his vision darkened as he was knocked unconscious and fell into the arms of his captor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Lunafreya confronts her dreams
> 
> The countdown is real people! I'm so excited to reach the end, but also super nervous with it. I've had this plot laid out in my head since I started, and doubted myself a few times through writing this, but hopefully you all will stay with me as we race to the finish line.
> 
> Please come visit me on my tumblr:  
> Wolf(In)Writerland  
> where I post excerpts from my works in progress, ask you guys some questions on what you'd like to see, and hopefully just talk about projects and get some more personal opinions with chats.


	13. Intermission of a Sorts: Feathers and Scales

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first: I want everyone to look at the updated tags for this story. Now that I've finally settled on writing the end how I originally thought it would go, I needed to put in some additional tags for what is to come. In reality, it's mostly for one upcoming chapter, which will be a flashback to before everything started, but I want to make sure that everyone is on equal footing with me here moving forward. I'll label that chapter when it comes out, and honestly it can be easily skipped for anyone who doesn't want to read it, so I'll let the tags kinda be a summary for all the hoopla that was referenced back in the first chapter. 
> 
> For the here and now, take this chapter as an intermission part two as it marks the turning point into the final arc of this story. Luna revisits the dream she shared with Regis, only this time it's changed from what she remembers.

Lunafreya’s role as an Oracle has been a fickle title ever since she had received it.

She was born a regular dragon during the war against Niflheim, grew up for four years in the midst of the bloodshed her home country had caused, then gained all the powers of an Oracle during her fourth year after her grandmother died to end the fighting. All Luna remembered during that time was her screaming into her mother’s chest as she bonded to every life force on all of Eos. 

And then, just as suddenly as she gained her new insight, it was gone. Silenced, just as the Crystal of Insomnia was once the war settled and there was no need for another Oracle so soon once peace emerged throughout the countries. 

But Luna still received dreams from the Astrals despite her not having any other power her ancestors had possessed. 

She was able to walk among her dreams with full lucidity. She could interact with them. And she always knew just when she was dreaming.

Which is why, when Luna opened her eyes and woke up in a field of sylleblossoms in the dead of night, she knew she had entered a dream again.

She walked through the field gingerly, hesitantly, and held her hand out to caress all the flowers as she passed them on her way. There was nothing else to see for miles, just her and the flowers, until finally she found a trail leading to the center of her dream.

The flowers suddenly transitioned from healthy, newly bloomed blossoms into wilted and drained husks and Luna followed after the death trail quickly.

She had been in this dream before.

The flowers dropped faster and faster as she ran past, until they were nothing by ash being blown away by an imaginary wind.

And in the middle of the dried ground within the storm of ash, was a black dragon. A black dragon, with the most vibrant blue eyes she had ever seen.

Luna approached the dragon slowly, just as she had all the times she’d been in this exact moment before, and reached to pat the dragon’s head.

But where she had been an invisible specter to the dragon in all other dreams, this time, it snarled at her. Luna drew her hand back to her chest in shock that the dragon noticed her and instantly covered her ears in pain when the dragon howled out a loud roar in anguish. 

Luna chanced a peek at the dragon once it stopped screaming and saw it pace a few steps before collapsing on its side again.

The dragon whined in pain and it nosed at the ground where two small objects laid before it. Luna tried to get closer to see what they were, but the dragon’s sleek tail lashed out once she got too close to it. 

“Hush, hush. I’m not trying to harm you,” she attempted to appease the dragon, but knew from all her previous tries that it would be for not. 

That never stopped her from trying, though, and Luna inched her way ever closer to the growling dragon. 

“Please, I can help you.”

Instinctually, Luna knew that if she could just name the dragon, that it would finally let her near, but no name she had ever called before was ever the correct one.

Luna sighed when the dragon roared again and pushed itself onto its feet to pace around the objects once more. 

Luna glanced at the things hurriedly, knowing better than to test the dragon by coming near its hoard so recklessly, and could only make out a slght color of the top thing.

“Silver?” 

In the dreams she’d had before, this black dragon had been holding onto a silver feather tight in its grasp. A pure silver feather. Not this…blackened one that almost seemed to be decaying right in front of her eyes. They couldn’t be the same.

But what if?

Luna looked back to the pacing dragon and bit her lip in consideration. 

The King Regis had once asked about his son, and Luna had begun dreaming this same dream of a midnight dragon hoarding a silver feather. There were very few coincidences in her line of visions, and she was not foolish enough to not believe there to be some sort of connection to the royal family of Insomnia. But was that enough to connect what was once a peaceful image to this dark and death-filled one? Had the future changed so drastically to warrant this sea of death?

Luna breathed out slowly through her nose and whispered into the ash-clouded air.

“Prince Noctis?”

The dragon twitched, but didn’t stop its circling.

“Noctis,” Luna called out with more force and the dragon roared mightily again.

Luna stepped closer with her hand held out in appeasement. 

“Noctis, I do not wish to harm you. Or your hoard. But I cannot help you in this place if you do not let me see what has corrupted the land.”

Noctis readied his attack stance against her, pawed at the ground to try and intimidate her, but she moved closer still and bowed before him where he stood atop the things he guarded.

She glanced up at him from her bowed posture and hoped that her eyes conveyed just how much she wanted to help him.

“Please.”

Noctis tossed his head back in a thundered cry that seemed to shake the very foundation of the land, then crumpled back down onto his side.

Luna ran over to check on him, but the dragon just breathed heavily as his blue eyes watched her every movement.

Luna caressed the side of his face with one hand and went to pick up the objects with her other. She brought the small things close to her face for a better look, but still had to squint a bit in order to even make out what they were supposed to be.

One was a completely blackened feather that had lost all recognizable shape to it and was very slowly decomposing into ash as she held it up to her face. The other was a half remaining vibrant silver feather on the top portion that was slowly being consumed by the same blackness that had overtaken the other feather.

Noctis whimpered when Luna brought the silver feather closer to her eye and she watched as Noctis writhed in pain the more the blackness crept up to cover the silver.

“Noctis, is this hurting you?” Luna asked and she delicately tried to brush off the tar from the still slightly colored feather. To her surprise, the blackness was wet to the touch, and when she drew her hand away her fingers were covered in blood where she had brushed against it.

Luna gasped and dropped the feathers.

Noctis whined and tried to curl in even closer to where they landed. 

“What do these mean to you?” Luna questioned to herself as she watched Noctis’ hands try and claw the bloodied feathers closer to him.

Nothing she knew of the prince suggested he held an affinity for anything relating to feathers, or any creature that was related to feathers.

But maybe…maybe it was the color that was important to him? But what could silver relate to—

The answer popped into her mind before Luna could even gasp.

“Ig—”

The silver feather darkened even more as Noctis brought his face down to nose at it and Luna was hurled from the scene as the ground beneath her fell away.

***

Luna awoke to the sound of banging against her door with tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

She slowly pushed herself into an upright position and rubbed at her eyes to clear them of the wetness. But no matter how much she scrubbed, the tears would not stop.

Finally, she gave up on trying to clean her face and instead shrugged on a robe as she glanced outside her window to guess at the time.

The sky was still pitch black.

The pounding would not stop and Luna hesitantly cracked her door open just enough to see who was there this late at night.

A servant girl Luna knew helped to take care of the gardens was gasping as Luna opened the door wider and she turned her large brown eyes up at Luna.

“My Lady, your guest is missing!”

Luna rubbed at her eyes some more to hopefully fix them of their mistiness. “I’m sorry?”

“Your guest, my Lady! The one you brought here a week ago! We cannot find him!”

Luna’s heart stopped as icy froze in her chest. “What?”

“Some others heard a movement in the gardens, and when they went to investigate, all they could find were these.”

The girl, Mina, offered Luna a pair of glasses that had become unmistakenly familiar to her in the past seven days. Luna took them gingerly and cradled them to her chest.

She looked back at the girl who was wringing her hands together in nervousness. 

“We searched throughout the castle, my Lady, but your guest has yet to be found anywhere. We fear…”

Luna prided herself on keeping the perfect Oracle image no matter what news was brought to her attention, and it was only that control which allowed her to nod at the girl politely and walk, not run, to Ravus’ room.

She knocked on his door a few times before entering swiftly and closing the wood behind her as soon as she could.

“...Lunafreya?” Ravus called out in sleepy confusion at being awoken so suddenly.

Luna’s back slid down the door as she shuddered out a breath and held out her hand to show Ravus Ignis’ glasses within her grasp. 

“He’s gone,” she whispered and more tears fell down her chin and onto the floor she was sitting on. “He’s gone again.”

Ravus only needed to see the glasses to know what she meant, and the roar he let out was sure to have woken the rest of the castle with his anger.

Luna’s body trembled as she knocked her head back against the wood and listened to the magnitude of Ravus’ grief for the second time in her life. 

She turned her head in order to call to the girl outside and hoped that she could hear her over Ravus’ yelling.

“Mina, please bring me my phone. I need to call prince Noctis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Noctis searches the corners of Lucis to find his mate


	14. The Thing that Drives Us Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to include so many things that there was just no good stopping point until it reached over thirty pages worth of Noctis looking for Ignis. My brain. And it is still missing some scenes that I had drafted, but when it came time to write it they just didn't work in the context of what else was happening around them. For example, Noctis and Ravus were supposed to duke it out in a pointless fight of alpha 'Ignis is mine!' aggression, but it just didn't work in where it was supposed to go. Maybe I can bring it in later, who knows.
> 
> In this chapter, Noctis pretty much travels Lucis in the same 'go go go' fashion that I made them do in the game, and some more background is hinted at in reference to the experimental omegas from the thirty year war.
> 
> Also! Please check out this amazing fan art created by sarabis3 over on tumblr. It's amazing and beautiful and everything I could have imagined as a dragon reference:
> 
>  
> 
> <https://wolfinwriterland.tumblr.com/post/176033131607/sarabis3-gladio-in-dragon-form-from> ">Gladio's Dragon Form

The first day Ignis had been missing, Noctis was an inconsolable mess of tears and self-hatred. The second day, he had been catatonic. By the third, Noctis was a snarling, pacing predator that snapped at anyone who so much as breathed in his direction without a mention of where Ignis could be. 

The Citadel was practically in lockdown, with the royal family holed up with their Shields and a few select members of the court while the rest of the Kingsglaive were sent out to search where they could in the surrounding area for any sign of the missing omega. 

Noctis had reached the end of his patience by the fourth day and tried to sneak out of the castle to go and look for Ignis himself, but was caught by Gladio and Prompto right before he was able to claim a car from their lot.

Gladio’s tattooed arms were crossed over his chest and there was a scowl twisting his features firmly set into place on his face, but Noctis simply squared his shoulders to stand his ground.

“I’m going out there to find him,” the prince said with a commanding growl underlining his voice that left no room for argument or disapproval.

Rather than lash out like Noct had expected his Shield to, Gladio only looked at him for a minute before sighing and loosening his stance as he cracked his neck.

“Yeah, I figured,” the older alpha huffed as he reached into his Crownsguard issued pant’s pocket. “But you better not argue when I say that you’re not going alone.”

He tossed a ring of keys to Noctis as Prompto bounced on the heels of his feet while being unable to keep a growing smile off his face.

Noctis caught the keys one-handedly and inspected them.

The first key was very familiar to him.

“My dad’s giving me the Regalia?” Noctis asked in confusion and looked up at Gladio. The Regalia had been his father’s first car and was treasured like an heirloom by the King alpha. 

Gladio shrugged a massive shoulder.

“My old man gave me those keys to give to you. He said that the King knew you’d know what they meant and that you shouldn’t burn down all of Lucis in order to find Ignis.”

Noctis grinned at his two friends wolfishly. “And I’m guessing that you guys are coming to make sure I don’t start any fires.”

Prompto laughed and gave Noctis a thumbs up. “Stop-Noctis-from-doing-anything-stupid Squad. That’s us.”

Gladio huffed and ruffled Prompto’s hair messily as the blond beta protested the loss of his hairdo.

“I know just how much of a dumbass you can be, Prince Charmless, and mix that with how reckless I know you’ll act to get your truemate back is just asking for you to be knocked around.”

Gladio closed his eyes for a second before he looked straight into Noct’s eyes with a determination that the prince hasn’t seen from him since before they began fighting. He held his arm out and clenched his fist.

“Besides, Ignis is gonna be pack, right? We gotta look out for each other in the Crownsguard.”

Noctis had to swallow to try and re-wet his suddenly dry mouth, but he clashed his own arm with Gladio’s in a show of camaraderie between alphas.

“About time you agreed with me.”

Noctis looked back down at the other key on the ring and waved it around.

“They say anything about what this key opens?”

Gladio shook his head negatively and Prompto shrugged.

“It’s good for opening opportunities with certain people around Lucis that you wouldn’t have otherwise.”

The three of them all swirled around to face the new voice and Prompto let out a small squeak in surprise as Noctis’ mother laughed quietly behind her hand at their reactions.

“Mom?” Noctis clutched the keys to his chest with the smallest fear that the Queen omega was here to stop them before they could leave.

Aulea smiled down at Noctis and motioned for him to come closer.

“That key is a replica of the one your father shares with his old friend group that had split their separate ways once the war ended,” she said as she pulled Noctis into her arms for a strong hug. “Just show off that key and you might be able to get the help you need in tracking down Ignis.”

His mother placed a kiss on top of Noct’s forehead before she nudged him in the direction of where the Regalia was parked.

“Now go. I want you all back before the end of the week, alright?”

Noct nodded to her before he got into the driver’s seat of his dad’s car. Prompto sat next to him in shotgun and Gladio got in the back in order to spread out his longer legs.

“Thanks, Mom.”

Noctis started the car with an easy purr of the engine and drove out into the afternoon sun to try and hopefully follow the same path Ignis might have taken out of the city.

***

“So, uh, Noct? Where are we going, buddy?”

The three of them had been fairly quiet since they left the Citadel parking lot and drove towards the city limits, but they were passing quite a few signs that all pointed in different directions to different spots of Lucis.

Noctis chewed on his lip as he glanced between the directions going to Galdin Quay and Hammerhead.

Left, or right, which way had Ignis gone?

“You’re parents said something about Ignis going to Galdin to relax for a bit, yeah?” Gladio injected and leaned forward to poke his head between Noctis and Prompto. “I know it’s a long shot, but we should go there first before we tear through the country in a manhunt.”

“You really think Ignis would be dumb enough to run away to the very city everyone thought he was going to in the first place?” Noctis asked as he slowed the car down to give them a few more seconds to decide.

“No, but it’s better to be certain of the places closest to us, even if there’s hardly any chance of it being right, than go off to the ends of Lucis only to find out that he was in our backyard from the beginning.”

Noctis sighed and had to admit that Gladio was right even though every pore in his body begged him to go the other way.

“Just don’t say anything about me breaking the speed limit when we have to backtrack,” Noctis growled and floored the gas pedal once he turned into their decided lane.

He turned on his blinker and went left once the light changed.

***

Galdin Quay was just about the most perfect destination that Noctis had ever visited. It was right along the water and had some of the best fishing spots Noctis swore he’d be back to try out, the place smelled of freshly cooked seafood and had cats galore roaming around freely ready to be pet by any oncoming people, and the people were infinitely more cheerful than the stuffy workers inside the Citadel.

The only problem was that there was no Ignis anywhere to be seen or known to have ever come around, so the city was useless to Noctis.

Gladio placed a heavy hand on Noct’s shoulder before the prince could succumb to his alpha and rage in his disappointment.

“We knew that he’d most likely not be here, remember? This was just a chance to check it off our list of places he could be.”

Noctis nodded despite it feeling like a nail was being hammered through his heart and turned back towards the car.

“Oh no you don’t.”

Gladio grabbed Noctis by both arms and lifted him to face the Galdin hotel rather than the parking lot.

“It’s already past midnight, we’re staying here until morning.”

Noctis was going to argue that he was fine to drive if the others wanted to sleep in the car, but Gladio twirled the car keys on his finger and nodded to the hotel’s front desk.

“Prom’s already on his way to book us a room for the night. You need your rest if you want to continue your manhunt tomorrow.”

“Give those back!” Noctis yelled, unimpressed with Gladio’s ability to pickpocket without Noct knowing about it.

While they were distracted, though, they didn’t notice a figure walk behind them until an amused whistle tuned out and startled them.

“Well don’t you two have a pretty set of keys over there,” a white haired man waved as he strode closer before notching his thumbs into his pant’s pockets. “Especially that gold one.”

Noctis managed to grab the key ring out of Gladio’s grasp while the taller was distracted and pocketed it as he scowled at the new dragon.

“What’s it to you?” Gladio asked and took a slight step forward to cover Noctis.

The white haired dragon put up his hands in peace and he let out a wave of beta nonchalant scent to deescalate the hostility. 

“Nathing much. Just thinkin’ how my father has a key just like that one you both got and wonda’ing how you managed to get hold of som’thin’ only a select few people have.”

Noctis and Gladio shared a glance. 

“And how do you know it’s the same thing?” Gladio questioned.

The man tugged at a chain around his neck and pulled out a matching key to the one Noctis had.

“My father got me a copy of his back when I was a tyke. Said it would help me if I found the right people to show it to.” He returned the chain back underneath his shirt and held out his hand.

“The name’s Dino. Last name’s Ghiranze.”

Noctis took his hand and gripped it tightly.

“Noctis.” He looked back at Gladio and saw his Shield hesitate before nodding. “Lucis Caelum.”

Dino whistled again. “I see where you got that key. But what I don’t see is why the prince would be coming down here to littl’ Galdin in the middl’ o’ the night.”

“We’re looking for someone. Someone important,” Noctis said before Gladio could stop him or take back the conversation. “We thought he might have come down here possibly a few days ago.”

Dino’s eyes narrowed and he glanced between Noct and Gladio a few times. The two tensed in suspicion.

“Noct! Gladio! I got us a room!”

All three dragons turned to stare at Prompto as he ran down to them from the hotel and he stopped mid step once he realized that they weren’t alone. His eyes widened though once he got close enough to see who they were talking to.

“Oh! Are you Dino Ghiranze?”

Noctis blinked at hearing Prom actually know this guy by name, but Dino seemed to preen at being recognized.

“The very same.”

Prompto stepped up and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Ha, sorry. I follow your stories in Meteor, and really like the shots you put up in your columns.”

Dino suddenly had on a charming smile that was directly entirely onto Prompto and Noctis snickered when he heard Gladio give off a low growl at seeing the two get along so easily.

“It’s always a pleasure meetin’ some fans out in the middl’ of a scoop!” Dino laughed and all of the tension he had shown before was instantly gone. “Didn’t think I’d meet anybody who read me this late at night, though.”

“Are you working on a new story now?” Prompto asked and tilted his head.

Dino’s easy smiled twitched a bit at the corners and he looked back at Noctis before he sighed and ran a hand through his up done hair.

“More of a personal project for myself. And I’m only saying that much ‘cuz you have that key with you.”

Prompto’s violet eyes shone in the moonlight and Noctis could see the wheels turning even faster than what his and Gladio’s had been moving at. 

“Key? So your story has something to do with the King?”

Noctis blinked at Prompto’s leap in logic and thought that that was a bit of a stretch for where the conversation had been.

However, Dino just chewed his lip and Noctis’ jaw wanted to drop at seeing Prom’s accusation actually provoke a response from him.

“…You’re the prince,” Dino pointed to Noctis who blinked at suddenly being addressed. “And you have that key from your father.”

Dino shuffled in place for a bit before his shoulders sagged and he huffed out a mighty sigh.

“You said you were lookin’ for somebody. Is this about the collar order my father got a while ago?”

Noctis, Gladio, and Prompto all blinked at the shift in topic and glanced at each other in confusion. 

“What collar order?” Noctis finally asked and Dino cursed to himself.

“So you’re not on order from the King to investigate us.”

Gladio suddenly stepped forward and grabbed onto Dino’s arm with a stronghold Noctis knew the beta man would not be able to get out of.

“We weren’t before, but we sure as hell will be now.”

Dino tried in vain to squirm for a bit, but gave up his intent faster than Noct expected.

“Well, you won’t find anything interesting from me. I don’ got any info more than you.”

Prompto tried waving his arms to appease his boyfriend into letting Dino go.

“We’re not trying to get in your way, dude. Uh, Mr. Dino. But we’re all kinda really confused on our side, so if you could clear up this thing for us, that’ll be great.”

Dino sighed again and nodded quickly, and Gladio eventually let him go after some coaxing from Prompto.

“It may just be nothin’,” Dino tried to start, but at Gladio’s glare he backtracked on his story. “It’s just…my father got into the jewelry makin’ business after the war was done, after he left workin’ for the King to have a simpler life, and I’m tryin’ to get into the trade myself. But a bit ago, I’d say…about six or seven months ago? My father got this really big order for a shipment of specialty collars that didn’ come with any order name or person in charge. He just got a call for about a hundred collars, with a tag sayin’ to send it to some place in Niflheim. I’d already looked into it, for scam and all that, but it was a little bakery on the corner of nowhere and didn’ look like any place that would need a hundred collars shipped off to them.”

Dino shrugged and put his hands back into his pockets. “My father doesn’t deal with Niflheim, at all, after the war and all that, so he turned down the order. About two months later, he gets another request for the same thing, but now it’s a shop in Accordo that sells books. My father didn’t blink an eye and completed the thing, but all that seemed way too fishy for me to let slip by without tryin’ to dig around and see what it was about.”

Dino ran his fingers through his hair again and looked between the three of them intensely. “I only told you guys all that because of that key. I’m trustin’ you to keep this a secret in case this comes back to bite my father in the rear. But the lead I’m on, and the rumors I’ve heard from the past, somethin’s not sitting right with me and I’m going to go find out what it might be.”

***

Prompto exchanged numbers with Dino after their conversation and the white haired dragon swore that he’d keep an eye out for Ignis before he saluted and he walked back to the still bustling Galdin restaurant.

Gladio ushered both Noct and Prompto to the hotel and the three drifted off into varying degrees of uneasy sleep.

For Noctis, who normally called upon sleep with the ease of a snap, the night was long and lonely as his body twitched at every sound outside their window, ready to spring up and get back to the road.

Noctis was ready to leave before Gladio’s alarm even sounded to wake them up.

So Galdin was a bust, which the prince was entirely aware of before they even arrived in the city, but that didn’t stop his alpha from wanting to snap at his friends whenever they tried to speak with him at breakfast.

They would need, at minimum, half a day to get back to Insomnia and restart their journey. Then there were at least three other directions they could go from there, but they all speared out into different sides of Lucis that would eat up days worth of time getting to each one. And that was assuming that they went in the right direction their next try.

Noctis glared at the road as he drove and tried to calm his temper to at least not snarl at Prompto whenever he changed the radio station. It wasn’t his fault that they all agreed to go to a dead end first.

Suddenly, a loud blare of wind chimes sounded in the car and Noctis swiveled the wheel a bit at the unexpected sound. Gladio apologized for the loudness from the backseat and picked up his phone from his pocket.

“Hello?” Gladio’s voice quieted as he listened to whoever had called him and Prompto turned off the radio in order to lessen the noise.

The Shield hmm-ed and mmhmm-ed a few times and gave Noctis a hand gesture to pull over when the pack alpha looked back at him through the rearview mirror.

“Thanks Marshal, we’ll head over there now and see what she says,” Gladio said before he hung up the call as Noctis pulled off to the side of the road and swiveled around to stare at him.

“What was that?”

“Cor said that he found a girl at the Hammerhead gas station up north that spoke with an omega named Ignis a few days ago. Says that she’s confident she knows who we’re looking for, but refused to say where he went until she could speak to ‘the pitiful alpha who made such a sweet omega run away from home’.”

Prompto turned to look at Gladio with a raised eyebrow and Noctis glowered at the poke, but Gladio just raised his hands up in appeasement.

“Cor’s summarized words, not mine.”

Noct growled a bit, but restarted the car instantly once he turned back around. His hands were shaking from the prospect of getting a lead on where Ignis was, and he made good on his threat of breaking the speed limit by a good forty miles once he drove the car back onto the road.

They made it back to Insomnia in record time and Prompto only left a few nail marks from where his hands were clutching at his seat.

Noctis ignored the signs telling him to turn into the city and kept driving forward until the directions began to point him towards the Hammerhead outpost.

The sun had already set by the time the three pulled in to the neon signs and lights of the Hammerhead diner. Gladio and Prompto practically fell out of the car in their haste to leave it and Gladio pulled his truemate into his arms as if to console each other after a fright.

“You,” Gladio panted out as Noctis slammed the car door shut, “are never driving again.”

Noctis felt dead on his feet after having driven for more than twelve hours straight, swayed a bit before he was able to catch his footing, and ignored his Shield as he pocketed the car keys into his jacket. 

“Well, lookit y’all coming in here during the middle of the night. What can I do you strangers for?”

The cheerful voice startled all three of them. Walking straight out of the on site garage, a blond alpha walked up to the three with her hands on her hips and a large smile taking up the majority of her face. If Noctis was in his right mind, he would have blushed at the woman’s revealing outfit showing more skin than he had ever seen revealed on another person besides Ignis, but as it was Noct was too tired and too agitated to have his sheltered eyes be concerned over the woman’s surprising ease of dress.

“We heard that you saw a dragon named Ignis come through here and wanted to know where he went.”

The dragons’ blue eyes trailed over each of them as her easy smile slowly lowered off her face. Her gaze finally landed on Noctis and she sniffed at the air with obvious intent.

Her eyes flashed with what looked like recognition and she scowled openly at Noct.

“So you’re the no good alpha that sent the poor thing running. I knew he was hiding from something!” 

Noctis twitched at the accusation and his throat rumbled with a warning to the other alpha.

“He was not running from me.”

“Then tell me why that sweet creature was out here all alone and lookin to get far away from the city covered in blockers!”

Gladio needed to hold Noctis back before the prince’s tired mind could convince itself to tear apart the other dragon where she stood. Prompto got in the middle of them and tried to calm down the other angered alpha.

“There’s been a bit of a misunderstanding here, Ms…”

“Cindy,” the woman responded without looking away from Noctis.

“Ms. Cindy! Noct here, that is, we’re all looking for Ignis together to bring him back to Insomnia to get him safe. We aren’t trying to do anything mean—”

“I don’t believe you,” Cindy said and managed to look down at Prompto despite her being practically the same height as him. “That poor boy looked spooked out of his mind and you want me to believe that all these dragons after him don’ wanna do nothing bad to him? You must think me some day ol’ Chocobo to take in that story with no questions.”

Noctis had had enough! He was finally on Ignis’ trail after almost five days of him missing and this woman was not going to be the thing that kept Noctis from holding Ignis in his arms again.

The scent of threatening alpha rose so drastically that even Noctis was able to smell it wafting in the air and Gladio had no choice but to let him go or risk having Noctis charge at him in a blind rage too. But the Shield did try and combat Noctis’ angry scent with his own pacifying one, a scent that only alphas in packs could give off to avoid a standoff when there was no need to fight, as Prompto let out his beta scent to calm the lot of them.

Noctis was blind to it all except the challenging alpha standing in his way of finding Ignis and made a threatening step closer to her. Cindy refused to back down though and stood her ground with her arms crossed over her chest.

Suddenly, an overpowering presence overtook even Noctis’ anger as it washed over the group that had everyone freezing in place as a figure hobbled closer behind Cindy.

The blond turned her head as if the pressuring air didn’t bother her in the slightest and pouted at whoever was behind her.

“Pawpaw, I got this. Ya don’t need to come rescue me every time an alpha thinks he’s too big for his boots.”

An elderly dragon placed his hand on Cindy’s shoulder and glared with murderous intent at Noctis.

“What in hell’s name are you doing boy?”

Noctis flinched a bit at the rugged voice and reeled back his challenging scent. Gladio’s grip on his arm pulled him back just enough that they weren’t threateningly close to Cindy anymore.

“We’re looking for our friend,” Gladio spoke out for the first time during the showdown, “and we were told that…Cindy…knew where he had gone.”

The old man’s eyes pierced just as strongly as Noct knew his dad’s could and on impulse the prince reached for the keys inside his pocket and shook them in front of him.

“Noctis Lucis Caelum, son of Regis Lucis Caelum. I’m looking for Ignis Scientia. He’s been missing for four days now, maybe five? I don’t know when he actually left. But I need to know where he is, that he’s okay, that he’s alright and alive and I just—”

Noctis voice grew more desperate the more he spoke and he could feel the last of his remaining strength leave him as he fell onto his knees from all the stress he’d been carrying for over half a week. 

He looked up into both Cindy’s and the man’s shocked eyes to plead with them for what he needed.

“I just need to have him back in my arms to tell him that I’m sorry.”

Cindy’s expression went from surprise to contemplating as the man scoffed in his gruff voice.

“Get up boy. Regis wouldn’t want to see you on your knees like that.” The man pointed to a parked trailer off to the side and away from the garage. “We’re not telling you anything until morning, so you’d best stay over at the caravan for the night if you want to talk to my granddaughter like a civilized person once dawn hits.”

Noctis shook his head weakly, his body too drained to do much else.

“No, please. I need to know now so that we can go find him. He’s out there alone and I’m so close to being with him again, please.”

Noct saw the man look at Gladio with a pointed nod behind them and felt Gladio’s arms wrap around him to lift Noct up onto his feet.

“C’mon Noct; we’ll get your answers tomorrow.”

Noctis tried to shake him off, but Prompto’s sudden hand on his arm soothed him into a calmness Noct didn’t know he could feel at this moment. Blackness crept into the corners of his eyes as he was led away from Cindy and the man, until Noctis couldn’t feel his feet’s movements anymore and he floated through air for a bit before the darkness of exhaustion overtook his consciousness.

***

When Noctis awoke, sunlight was shining down on him through cheap curtains, his body was aching, and the old fashioned alarm clock on a beaten side table flashed the time twelve forty-five.

Noct shot up so fast that his head began to spin in pain. A soft croon came from his left as a hand rubbed at his back in repetitive circles, and for a second Noctis could almost believe that Ignis was sitting next to him.

That illusion was shattered though when Noctis turned his head and saw a mess of shocking blond hair rather than the styled ashy blond he wanted to see.

The prince whined brokenly and fell back into bed.

“Sorry Noct,” Prompto apologized and Noctis peeked up to look at him through his fringe. “For, uh…what’s the thing you’ll be least mad at me for?”

“I think they’re all pretty up there, Prom. Starting with how you lulled me to sleep.”

Prompto winced but kept up his sheepish smile. “It was for your own good, bud. You were dead on your feet and weren’t exactly making the best decisions when you tried to fight every alpha within a mile radius.”

Prompto pat Noct’s back with more forced than he had before. 

“But we figured that you’d be raring to go once you woke up, and Gladio’d talked to Cindy and Cid while you were catching up on sleep, so they’re a little more forgiving towards you compared to last night. At least Cindy will be; Cid is still pretty miffed that you challenged his granddaughter.”

“Cid?” Noctis asked as he pushed Prompto away so that he could get up. “You mean my dad’s old mechanic?”

“He called himself your dad’s savior when Gladio brought it up.”

Prompto led the way out of the camper and Noctis raised his hand to shelter his eyes from the blaring sun.

“So the boy is finally awake.”

Noctis saw Gladio and Cindy turn towards them as they walked out from their places surrounding the old man, apparently his dad’s very own Cid, who was sitting on a reclined outdoors chair with his feet up.

Cid scowled at Noctis and Noct returned the look.

“Didn’t expect to see the King’s little princeling outside of the city in my own turf, let me tell you. And I really didn’t expect him to challenge my Cindy in the dead of night, either.”

Cindy cocked her hip and glared at Noctis too. 

“Not like I couldn’t’a taken him on if it came to that.”

Gladio sighed and placed a hand on his head like he was giving up on the whole conversation.

“You just got up, Noct, how did you manage to piss them off so quickly again?”

Noctis rubbed at his face in agitation until a little voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Ignis told him to reel in his instincts and anger just long enough to be able to get the information he wanted.

Noctis huffed under his breath at the logic and bowed slightly to the pair of dragons before him.

“I’m sorry for how I acted yesterday. My…exhaustion got it the way of my rationale and made me unrightly challenge you in my anger. Please, forgive me.”

Noct looked up from his lowered state and hoped that his eyes held all the conviction he felt to get through to them. 

“But my truemate is missing, alone and…carrying…and I need to get him back as soon as possible. Please. I will never beg or bother you again if you just tell me where he went and I’ll leave as soon as you do.”

The air was uncomfortably quiet as no one made a move in fear of breaking the tension, until Cid swore under his breath and ran his hand over his face slowly.

“You Caelums have a way of breaking all my expectations, don’t you?”

Cid stood up from his chair and started walking back to the garage without so much as a look back at them.

“If you do anything to my Cindy, I’ll have all your asses before you can even kiss them goodbye.”

Cindy snickered at Cid’s parting words before she went back to staring at the three of them.

“You managed to convince my Pawpaw with that little show of yours, and that’s not an easy thin’ to do.” She huffed too and pulled down the hat that was atop her head to cover her eyes from Noct’s view.

“So what do you want to know about Ignis?”

Noctis shot up straight and squared his shoulders. “Which way did you see him going in?”

“Before I answer that,” Cindy instantly stepped closer to Noct and poked his nose. “Why did he run away from you in the first place?”

Noctis glanced at Gladio, wondering at what his Shield had told them, but Cindy pressed harder to get back his attention.

“I don’t want to rehear what your burly friend over there said, I want to hear it straight from your lips.”

Noctis clenched his fists and looked away from Cindy in shame. 

“He left because I couldn’t protect him; and he thought that he could protect me from the truth by leaving.”

“And what are you going to do when you find him?”

Noctis brought his head back up and gave the most intense stare he could fuelled with his honest feelings.

“I’ll never let anyone harm him ever again.”

Cindy stared into Noctis’ eyes and he urged his resolve to push through to her.

“Well I’ll be plucked like a chocobo’s feather. You really do love him.”

Noctis wanted to melt with relief at her acceptance of him, but also felt a stirring in his chest from the acknowledgement of someone outside his pack saying those words out loud for the first time.

“I do,” he whispered reverently.

Cindy blinked and looked away as she mussed the hair on the back of her head in embarrassment. “Well, then you better get goin’ to find him and make sure you do right by that omega. And make sure he comes back for a visit like he promised me!”

The alpha female’s eyes flashed dangerously for a second and Noctis felt admiration for Ignis that he managed to tie such a strong-willed dragon around his finger in such a short amount of time.

Cindy turned and pointed towards the northmost heading road. “Ignis told me that he was searching for some place to tourist in for sightseeing, so I suggested that he mosey over to check out Lestallum since they were holding a festival close to three days ago. The Oracle herself was suppose’ta be visiting over there too and she normally spends at least a week to enjoy the parties herself. He said that he’d go and check it out, but didn’t say how long he’d intend to be there. If y’all take this road straight, y’might be able to reach the city by the time the moon rises.”

Noctis’ chest was so compact at the thought of seeing Ignis again by midnight and he was already itching to get back into the Regalia before Cindy even finished directing them. 

“Well,” Cindy’s posture morphed from casual to a wide-legged, hands on hips power stance as she looked down at Noctis. “What are you waiting for? Go get him!”

The three needed no more motivation and sprinted to the car. Prompto was the only one who remembered to at least wave back with a yell of gratitude for her help.

Cindy waved back as the Regalia purred to life and Noctis quickly pulled out of the station. From his rearview mirror, Noctis saw Cindy cup her mouth to yell at them before they turned onto the road.

“I expect some payback for filling yer tank fer ya! Some come back soon to pay up!”

Noctis nodded to her solemnly, hoping his eyes showed that he was more grateful to her than for just a tank of gas, and speed off even faster than he had driven on the way there.

***

Prompto and Gladio had finally gotten used to Noct’s driving; or at least, as Prom put it, made peace with their death of whiplash or becoming a pancake at an ill-taken turn, and Noctis was thankful for their silence on the matter.

Prompto was even so comfortable that he had taken out his phone to take pictures of the blurry scenery moving past them as they drove. He quietly hummed as he kept himself entertained as Gladio pulled out a magazine from who knows where in the car.

“Bought it at Hammerhead,” his Shield’s distracted voice gruffed out when he noticed Noct kept looking at him.

The hours went by surprisingly quickly, and even Noctis was calming a bit with the thought that he was getting closer and closer to Ignis with every mile they put on the car.

The quiet was shattered though when Noctis jumped in surprise at the loud buzzing coming from his pocket. He asked Prom to get it for him since it would have needed Noctis to slow the car enough that he didn’t crash from blundering to reach for his phone.

“Got it,” Prompto said so easily, as if reaching into his friend’s pant’s pocket was not the most awkward thing Noctis had ever asked him to do, and quickly found the alpha’s ringing phone.

Prompto wasted no time in answering the thing without even looking at who it was.

“Hel-lo!”

Prompto was quiet until his face erupted into a blush so red Noctis thought his friend was going to burst.

“Your Majesty!”

Noctis glanced over at that and pulled the convertible roof back up so to block out the noise of rushing wind.

“Uh, he’s, uh, driving right now, your Majesty. I can, um, ask him to pull over if you can, um, wait…” Prompto’s voice squeaked at the end and Noctis tried to help ease his suffering.

“Put it on speaker, Prom.”

Prompto looked entirely too thankful to pull the phone away from his ear and press the little button that made static come up in the car.

“Hey Dad.”

“Hello son. I see that you’re well using my gift without saying a proper farewell to me first.”

Noctis grimaced.

“Had to leave as soon as possible,” he tried to appease but knew that he was going to get an earful from his dad the second they made it back to the Citadel.

“Is that right?”

Scratch that, as soon as he made it inside Insomnia Noct knew that his butt was cooked.

The King chuckled a bit on the other end of the phone and Noctis was able to relax just a little again.

“Were you able to follow up on Cor’s intelligence for finding Ignis?”

“Yeah. We found your old friend Cid and his granddaughter directed us to head to Lestallum next.”

Regis made a sound from the back of his throat and muttered something about ‘actually helpful’ before he cleared his throat.

“Lestallum will be busy this time of year, so be careful of the crowds and those who think festivities excuses morning drinking.”

Noctis hummed distractedly and Gladio tapped him on his shoulder. Noctis glanced back to him and Gladio pointed to his neck a few times and mouthed ‘Dino’ quietly.

“Ah, Dad. We also met a Dino Ghiranze back when we were in Galdin. Said that his dad knew you back during the war?”

“Old Cyrus. I didn’t know his son returned from Accordo.”

“Yeah, well, Dino said some things about his dad being a jeweler now and that he got two weird orders for like a hundred collars to be made and sent to Niflheim. Dino was pretty weirded out by it.”

The line went so silent that Prompto had to look at the screen to make sure the call didn’t drop before Regis’ voice rang out clear and hard after a full minute.

“Noctis, return home.”

“What?” the prince asked and ran the car over a hole from taking his eyes off the road and putting them to the phone in his shock.

“Why?”

“This isn’t up for debate, son. Return home right now; that is an order as your father alpha.”

Noctis’ whole body flinched at the command. His dad had never needed to use his alpha command over him before, and it took all his mental strength to keep his foot on the gas pedal to continue driving.

“We’re so close to Ignis, Dad. I’m not losing him when I’m right here!”

“Noctis,” Regis sounded both angry and understanding, two feelings of which Noctis ignored in his own anger. “Do not disobey me on this.”

“But why? Tell me what happened to change your mind so quickly,” Noctis begged.

“Cyrus—the collars—”Regis huffed and Noct could practically imagine how his dad was combing out his hair like he did whenever he was stressed. “It’s about the jewelry, Noctis, and Niflheim. The Empire used jewelry to mark their stolen omegas and test subjects during the war, and collars were the most widely used on the dragons we freed once we won the war.”

Noctis’ hands tightened on the steering wheel and kept his eyes trained solely on the road.

“So you think Niflheim is acting up again.”

“I don’t know what to think,” his dad sounded as desperate as Noctis suddenly felt. “I just know that you need to be back in Insomnia and we can work out a plan for any possible outcome, just as our positions define that we should. For the good of the people.”

“And Ignis is not one of your people?” Noctis asked.

He could hear Regis suck in a harsh breath through his teeth.

“Ignis is one of my own. I took him in as a second son. But right now, your princehood takes precedent, along with your safety priority.”

Noctis shook his head to clear out the remaining fog of his father’s command and barred his teeth once his mind focused.

“Ignis is, and will always be my first priority,” Noctis said and put his hand out for Prompto to place the phone into his grasp. “I will bring him back even if every dragon in the Empire is waiting to stand in my way.”

The King tried to say something in response, but Noctis ended the call before he heard the words and tossed the phone back to Prompto.

The blond laughed nervously as the device began beeping in his hand again.

“Mute it,” Noctis said and glanced back at Gladio who had sat back sometime during the conversation and stared straight back at Noctis. “You still with me on this?”

His Shield sighed as if he’d been asked to clean out the restrooms of the Citadel for a week.

“You know my dad’s gonna kick my ass once we get back home?”

Noctis smirked and sped up the car to return their speed back to what it was before the call.

***

Lestallum was a sight to see at night. 

Noctis could admit that the soft street lights and occasional lit window created a dream-like illusion that could never be replicated in Insomnia, and the effect was one that he wanted to really get a chance to experience walking in once everything calmed down again, but as Noctis drove up the cliff side to reach the city all he could focus on was his dragon’s ever growing pacing to see Ignis again.

Nothing else mattered expect the little voice in his head telling him that Ignis was here and ready to be found after almost five days of being missing. 

Prompto ooh-ed and aww-ed at everything they saw as he pressed himself against the window while Gladio pointed out a parking area to Noctis and instructed him to go towards it so they could leave the car somewhere safe.

Noctis followed the signs and immediately slammed on the brakes once he reached the designated area. Both Prom and Gladio would have flown forward from the abrupt stop but their seatbelts saved their faces from any collision they would have had with the car.

Noctis put the Regalia in park and jumped out of the driver’s seat before the other two could understand what had happened.

The alpha prince keened and practically threw himself on top of Ignis’ already parked car. He sniffed at the metal, tried to take in what little of Ignis’ scent remained on it, and attempted to control his rapidly beating heart so as not to pass out from the excitement that they found him. They found him! Ignis really was here!

Noctis was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t even realize that Gladio had move the Regalia into a proper parking space and that his two friends were standing behind him as they watched his reaction to seeing Ignis’ car.

Noctis saw Prompto nudge Gladio and whirl his finger next to his head in the universal sign for crazy and the alpha tried to save what little face he cared about by scoffing at the two and standing upright like he didn’t just lunge out of a car to paw at another car.

Noct started walking into the silent city and looked over his shoulder back at his two friends. “What are you waiting for? We have to go find him!”

Prompto and Gladio jogged to him and the other alpha quickly tapped on Noct’s shoulder to stop his speed walking. 

“You do know that it’s passed midnight? Even if Ignis is here, he’ll probably be asleep wherever he’s staying at.”

Gladio did have a point, but Noctis had one better.

“I don’t care.”

The Shield rolled his eyes and grabbed onto Noct’s arm to pull him into the opposite direction of where the prince was going originally.

“Hey!”

“Prom, look up hotels in Lestallum, would you?”

“Already got it big guy,” Prompto waved his phone and proceeded to lead the way to wherever he had found.

Noctis struggled against Gladio’s hold and tried to free his writst.

“Let go!”

“Nuh uh,” Gladio shook his head and kept tugging him along. “It’s the middle of the night, the city’s dead, and you drove all day again despite dealing with your exhaustion yesterday. We’re going to get a nice hotel room, rest that pretty head of yours until morning, then scan every inch of this city from top to bottom for your omega. Alright?”

Prompto stopped in front of a nice enough looking building and double-checked his phone while Gladio altered from pulling Noctis to pushing him through the front door.

“Let go! I never agreed to resting!”

Gladio gave him a look.

“Do we need to calm you again to make sure you sleep? My ass is already dead enough from ignoring the King’s orders to take you back; pheromone drugging you for a second time won’t add much more to my sentence.”

Noctis scowled, but Prompto quietly slithered up to him and clung to his arm like a pouting puppy.

“Please Noct? I promise we’ll wake up early to find Ignis, and it’ll be so much easier to find him in the morning cuz he’s an early riser too and will probably be walking around the city by the time we get out of here and, you can smell him can’t you? Or sense him as his truemate? Everything will be so much easier if you just sleep until morning with us.”

Noctis hesitated. Prompto, his shit of a best friend, noticed his wavering and brought out the only real leverage he had against the prince to bend him to his will.

“Ignis will be sad if he sees you too tired to function if you stay up all night.”

Noct sighed and finally let himself nod to Prompto’s urgings. He was right, and if Noctis was going to prove that he was strong enough to take care of Ignis from the council, it wouldn’t do him any favors if he wasn’t at his peek alpha image by the time they met up again.

Prompto cheered and led Noctis by the hand up the staircase to the room he supposed the blond had already planned out since he seemed to have no trouble finding the room they were located in despite just having gotten to the hotel.

Noctis bit his lip as they went inside and Prom jumped onto the bed with an excited laugh before Gladio joined him and pulled the beta into his arms for a hug.

Tomorrow for sure, Ignis would be back with them. Noctis kept chanting that sentence over and over again in his mind. 

It was the only thought that got him relaxed enough to fall into a dreamless slumber as his mind subconsciously waited for the countdown to the sun’s first morning light to wake him up again.

***

It was barely seven before the three of them set out to scour the city for Ignis. Noctis had been ready since five, but a shove to the face from Gladio had made him wait until the other alpha and beta woke up before he could go.

Lestallum was a bustling city, even at the asscrack of morning that Noctis had only seen a few times throughout his life. The people were moving quickly, stuck in their own routines and walked with all the practiced ease of a lifetime’s worth of sameness that would have driven Noctis crazy if he lived there, but Ignis would have fit right into without much trouble.

Noctis stopped as many people as would listen to him to ask about Ignis. 

Have you seen a kinda blond omega walking around these parts recently anywhere? He’s pretty tall, almost as tall as that guy over there, and wears glasses and suits and gloves every day like clockwork. Accent as smooth as butter that could stop any dragon with just a single hum?

Every response was an apologetic shake of the head before the person walked away, and with each new negative, Noctis could feel himself sinking lower and lower into his alpha’s madness that he’d been putting off for almost four months..

The sun was already settling by the time Noctis slumped into an empty chair of a cafe as Prompto hunched over the table and Gladio stood off to the side running his hand through his hair.

“No one in this town seems to know anything about Ignis,” Prom muttered tiredly. “And we haven’t seen any sign of him either. Maybe he left already?”

Noctis whined and cradled his head in his hands.

“His car is still here though,” Gladio pointed out and crossed his arms. “How could he leave without driving?”

“Did you scent him anywhere, Noct?” Prompto asked and Noctis shook his head.

“He was still taking suppressants when he left though. I don’t think I’d be able to smell him unless he was close by. Or I found something of his that’s he’d been around for a long time.”

The three of them silenced as they took to their own thoughts.

A small clearing of a throat brought them back and a hunched over man standing with a cane smiled at Noctis.

“I’m sorry to bother you boys, but I’ve seen you running around the city all day now looking like you were asking after something. Maybe I could be of some help?”

Prompto immediately stood up and offered his chair to the man and he took it gratefully.

“Well, we’re looking for our friend who is supposed to be in Lestallum, but we haven’t been able to find any trace of him,” Prompto recapped quickly.

The man hummed and looked back at Noctis, who was still in his slumped over position. 

“And what does your friend look like?”

“He’s tall and has glasses with ashy blond hair that is normally styled up, and he usually wears really sophisticated clothes like suits and ties and stuff.”

“With the greenest eyes you could ever see,” Noctis included into his hands. 

“Hmm,” the elder rubbed his chin for a second before nodding to himself in approval. “I’m not so sure about the clothing, but there was a young man who matched the rest of your description who came by the peace festival a few nights back. The Oracle herself reached out to him as if she knew the boy her whole life.”

Noctis sat straight up and pinned the man with his intense gaze.

“Where did they go?”

Gladio pat Noctis on the back before he pressed his shoulder down to make sure he didn’t jump out of his seat. 

“The Oracle, huh? Do you know why she talked to him?”

The man shook his head. “Not in the slightest. The whole crowd was rather shocked when she jumped off the stage to run to him. The poor boy looked just about as shocked as the rest of us too, especially when she kissed him so suddenly.”

Noctis stiffened so badly he thought Gladio could break off his shoulder if he held him any tighter.

“Then the two ran off somewhere for the night. They were seen walking together around the shopping square the next morning, though, but after that the Oracle disappeared. She was supposed to stay the rest of the week, until three days from now actually, but no one’s seen her since.”

Gladio and Prompto shared a look.

“Do you happen to know where the Oracle was heading next?”

The man shrugged. “The Oracle normally comes to give us her blessings, then moves onto the next city once our week is over. She never mentions where she’s going next, but if you follow the newspapers, she visits a few places in Lucis before returning to her home of Tenebrae. I haven’t seen any news of her appearing anywhere else yet, but it’s possible that she’s stationed herself in one of the outposts again and the media hasn’t found her yet to make the news of it.”

“How does she travel?”

Everyone turned to look at Noctis at his question but he was staring unseeingly out into the night crowd that was dying off the more the moon rose into the sky.

“Well, she goes by all means of transportation. Sometimes she walks out of Lestallum on her own two feet, sometimes a car comes to pick her up. We did have an airship land the same day she disappeared, so my guess would be on that, but after it flew off I don’t know which direction it flew off to, unfortunately.”

Noctis stood up with vigor and started sprinting away from the café. He heard Prompto and Gladio both yell at him to come back but his mind was solely focused on getting back to Ignis’ car.

When he saw that it was still parked right where they left it, seemingly untouched, Noctis fell to his knees next to it.

The price could hear two sets of footsteps come close to him, but he didn’t raise his head from how it hung in despair.

Neither Gladio nor Prom said a word to him and Noctis clenched his hands into a tight fist so hard that he managed to break the skin of his palms with his short fingernails.

“How long does it take to get to Tenebrae?” Noctis asked in a whisper.

“Without an airship, about a week.”

Noctis shook his head. “How do we get an airship?”

“Noct…”

“How do we get a damn airship?!” Noctis yelled at the ground.

“You don’t even know that he’s over there—”

“He’s not here Gladio! I can feel it! Ignis hasn’t been here for days and if I had left the second I knew he was gone, I’d already have him back by now! But I didn’t, and now he’s further away than ever! The Oracle took him away and now he’s probably not even in Lucis anymore!”

Noctis pounded his fist on the ground as heavy tears dropped off his chin and into the dirt, making dark stains stick out against the grey pavement that just grew more and more until the prince was actively sobbing with his body hunched so tightly that his forehead pressed against the earth. 

His body shook intensely with each cry and the three of them stayed solemnly right where they sat until morning came up and the growing crowd of people made Gladio haul Noctis onto his feet and drag the prince back to the hotel they had stayed in the previous night.

Not one of them slept but being off the ground was a welcome change for their bodies.

Noctis fell onto the bed and covered his eyes with his arm, his entire body just as strained as his nerves were from his freakout during the night. 

“Noct…what do you want us to do now?”

Prompto’s voice was small, meek in its pleasantness to try compared to how he started out on this journey. Gladio was silent and Noctis supposed the other alpha used his wordless presence to mean that he was willing to consider anything Noctis had in mind for them.

Noctis took a few deep breaths through his nose and released them slowly in order to have full control of his voice.

“I want Ignis back.”

“We, uh, kinda already know that, buddy.”

“No,” Noctis said and sat up to face Prompto fully. The beta gasped and Noctis saw Gladio tense up behind him as they saw the blood red glow of his eyes that Noctis could feel pulsing through his skull.

“I want him back now. I don’t care if Eos burns in the wake of my search, we will find him soon.”

Noctis regarded the two dragons in front of him, not as his friends, but as his Crownsguard. They took understood the strength of his words and nodded in seriousness with their agreement to be used as he saw fit.

Noctis breathed out again calmly and delegated tasks for them each to do as their next move.

***

For the next two days, Noctis planned his attack towards finding Ignis. 

He sent Gladio out to see if any other citizens knew anything about the Oracle and where she normally visits in Lucis or if they had miraculously seen Ignis somewhere just walking down the street and would make their entire operation null. He made Prompto scour the internet on his phone to try and contact any newspapers or magazine that he knew of for intel on finding the Oracle outside of Lestallum. And Noctis had no problem throwing his title around to try and get the fastest mode of transportation to Tenebrae that he could find.

Noctis also venomously ignored the ever increasing number of muted missed calls and voicemails that was blowing up his phone whenever he looked at the home screen, but figured that if he only had a limited amount of time before his dad sent the entire Kingsglaive after him, he had better use of his time than waste it getting yelled at by his parents if he returned their calls.

Those forty-eight hours went by quickly and on the third day the three of them all collapsed right as the sun was setting to regroup and share what information they found.

“So, there’s like, absolutely nothing on where the Oracle is now. Like at all. No papers have mentioned her recently either besides the ones here that commented on the fact that she left early, but otherwise it seems like she’s not anywhere in Lucis anymore.”

“I’ve got a few hits on followers of the Oracle who travel around after her to see her sermons and get her blessings, but they’ve pretty much all camped around here since she didn’t say where she was going before she left and they have no clue where to head off next. I also found a few people who saw the same guy that old man did during the night of the festival, but besides saying that Ignis got a light breakfast with the Oracle the next day, no one’s seen him since then, either.”

“No one in Lucis has an airship that is willing to take us to Tenebrae because of the border crossing. The closest thing I could find was a ferry back in Galdin that would take us to Accordo, but we’d be stuck there and have to figure out how to cross into Niflheim ourselves after that.”

The three all groaned and flopped back on their respective spots with Noctis and Prompto on the beds and Gladio taking the one armchair pushed by the corner. 

“So we’re no better than where we started from,” Noctis grumbled and rubbed at his eyes. 

Gladio and Prompto groaned, but the beta waved his hand from where he was laying on his back on the second bed.

“It probably doesn’t help all that much, but I kinda did some searching about the whole Niflheim jewelry thing while I was looking up stories and, well, I think you should take a look at this page, Noct.”

Noctis rolled over onto his stomach and Prompto tossed his phone to him.

“‘War Crimes End with Niflheim but Omega Trafficking Goes Deeper than Expected.’”

The article was from twenty years ago, right after the war ended, and went into detail about the circumstances surrounding the captured omegas and what they were forced to endure while there. 

“‘Subjects say that they were mutilated, drugged and had their body parts severed for the purpose of study in order to manufacture a line of artificial omegas created from separate, non-omegan classes.’”

Testimonies from some captured dragons willing to do interviews told about how they watched as scientists tore apart other dragons in an attempt to isolate the omega DNA and pheromone component by stealing their scent glands, reproductive organs, and blood. All of which were then transferred into non-omega dragons to force an omega presentation on them, leaving their bodies with multiple scars throughout their front and medical analytics suggesting that the created omegas forced artificially bonds with whomever they came into contact with once the scent glands were implanted into them.

“‘No test subjects were successful in the attempts and all research has been reported as destroyed by the Lucian and Accordian Kings, along with the Tenebrean Queen. The aftereffects of such a slaughter are heartbreaking to see, but rest assured that the combined crowns all swear that no other carnage of such an extent will ever happen again.’”

Noctis put down the phone and clenched it tightly within his hands.

“Why did you show me this?”

Prompto squirmed and looked to Gladio for help over his shoulder.

“Well, it goes on to say how jewelry was the main tag on how they grouped those omegas by what the scientists thought they could give. After reading all that stuff, I get why the King got so freaked out after hearing about the collars. All those stories are awful.”

Noctis looked up from underneath his bangs and saw Gladio turn his head away after they made eye contact.

“What?”

Gladio didn’t say a thing until he placed his hand over Prompto’s shoulder as if needing the moral support.

“It…kinda sounds familiar, right? Those symptoms of bonding immediately with whoever they came into contact with? And…well, you’ve seen Ignis’ body before, right? Did he…”

Noctis felt his alpha presence charge the air and he tried to breath out calmly through his nose to keep himself from doing anything he’d regret.

“Are you back to suspecting Ignis of being a spy?”

“No!” Gladio cried out and tilted his head a bit to show his neck to Noctis. “No! I don’t think that way anymore; you know that! I’m just saying—all those dragons were victims, all of them, so do you think it’s possible that they might have gotten to him to show off that the Nifs were moving again?”

Noctis clenched his teeth so tightly that his head began to hurt and he stood up from the bed to begin pacing around the room just so that he’d have something to distract his thoughts with.

“Dammit!” 

The thought that someone would use Ignis in such a way, experiment on him to force an omega was just, it was just—

And the scars on his body: so strategically placed and un-random could not have been from something minor. 

Did Ignis ever look into these records? Did he see the same pictures of dead dragons who all had the same lines covering their bodies as a result of some failed experiments from some sick country’s desire to sell them off to the rest of the world?

Noctis knew that he was about three seconds away from transforming right in the middle of their hotel room, and it was only his phone suddenly ringing that distracted his rage.

The prince pulled out his phone and stared at the unknown number that was calling him in the middle of the night.

He shared a glance with Gladio before he steeled his nerve and answered on the fifth ring.

“Hello?”

“Prince Noctis…”

The panting feminine voice on the other side of the call made Noct narrow his eyes in suspicion.

“Who is this?”

“…I…you do not remember me. It’s—my name is Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.”

Noctis’ eyes widened at the name and he immediately put the call on speaker so that the other two could hear as well.

“The Oracle, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret?”

“Yes. Please, I know this is too sudden, and you must have many questions for me to answer, but right now there is no time. I need you to come to Tenebrae, immediately, to meet my brother and I and help us find Ignis.”

“So you do have him!” Noctis roared and Prompto covered his ears at the volume.

“Not anymore…Prince Noctis—he—I brought him to Tenebrae in an act of selfishness and to try and help him in his hour of need, but I fear that my actions have doomed him to a fate worse than if we had never met in Lestallum a week ago.”

“What have you done to him?” Noctis hissed.

“This evening I had an Oracle-prophesized dream, one that I’ve had multiple times before, but in it events have changed beyond my control and if my interpretation is correct, Ignis’ very life could be in danger if you do not come to us.”

“And how do we know this isn’t a trap?” Gladio merged his way into the conversation.

“I cannot prevent you from thinking so, not until you arrive. But I can offer you this: prince Noctis, your internal dragon’s hoard is that of two silver feathers that it cherishes more than anything else that this world could give.”

Noctis couldn’t explain why such a sentence brought him to tears, but his dragon whined inside his mind and made him yearn to hold such feathers within his own hands despite never having thought of such a thing before in his life.

“We have no way to get there,” Noctis said as he wiped his eyes.

“I will have an airship go pick you up as early as a few hours.”

“Lunafreya…” Noctis whispered as he closed his eyes and bowed his head closer to the phone.

“Can you tell me that he is alright?”

“…I cannot. But I can say that I believe his survival consists solely of you coming to Tenebrae as soon as possible.”

“Then I will go. Send an airship to Lestallum as soon as you can.”

***

The wait was torturous, both for the airship and the travel over the country, but Noctis kept himself together solely with the image of a silver feather firmly implanted in his mind.

***

Tenebrae was beautiful. It’s lush greens and vibrant flower colors were like nothing Noctis had ever seen before. But it’s beauty was diminished when, as they exited the airship, only a woman and a man were there to greet them.

The woman bowed as soon as they were close enough to the pair and the man’s face deformed into a scowl even more intense than it was when they first landed.

“Prince Noctis,” the woman said as she straightened herself. Her blue eyes were red rimmed and tired, but her face was as beautiful as all the pictures Noctis had seen of her made it out to be.

“Lady Lunafreya,” Noctis tipped his head and scowled right back at the man. “King Ravus.”

“So you are the one who impregnated Ignis.”

Noctis felt a blush race to cover the entirety of his face, but he refused to back down from the glare he was sharing with the King.

“I am. We are truemates, so even if we were unexpecting of such a surprise, it is my honor to claim that title as his alpha.”

Ravus bared his teeth and stepped forward in a show of intimidation, but Lunafreya stepped between them and placed a hand on her brother’s chest to stop him.

“Please. Now is not the time, either of you. Prince Noctis, I called you here with a purpose.”

Noctis refused to back down from the eye contact, but hummed that he acknowledged what she said. Ravus’ scent was beginning to cover the air, a challenge against Noctis if there ever was one, and Noctis bared his teeth right back at the other alpha who almost seemed to be challenging his role as Ignis’ alpha mate.

“Stop! The both of you!”

Lunafreya put her hand on Noctis’ chest too and a beta scent much stronger than what Noctis had ever smelt wafted through his nose and managed to calm him faster than anything has ever been able to before.

“Prince Noctis,” the Oracle stood in front of Ravus so that Noctis had to look at her instead. “Please, there is much I need to tell you, and not much time to tell it.”

Noctis rubbed his face to try and clear out his mind from all the different smells that he had been bombarded with.

“Where is Ignis?”

Lunafreya lowered her head and even Ravus turned his head away from him and Noctis felt his entire stomach drop in fear of what they had to say.

“He’s gone—kidnapped. Was taken in the dead of night, right before I had called you, and all that was retrieved from the scene were these glasses.”

Lunafreya held her hand out and on top of her palm was a pair of glasses that Noctis would have known anywhere.

Noctis took the things with an eerie calm and looked back at the Oracle with a blank expression on his face.

“Your dream.”

The female nodded. “For years I’ve had the same dream of a black dragon hoarding one to two silver feathers in its grasp. Last night, that dream transformed into a personification of death as the dragon, your dragon as it shared your name, still held onto the feathers, but one was entirely blackened by blood and the other was halfway overtaken by the same before I was awoken to find Ignis missing. I…was never able to connect what the dream meant until I saw Ignis’ dragon for myself, his true color, and the scent of his pregnancy was uncovered once the suppressants wore off in his body.”

The Oracle looked away with such regret in her face that Noctis was almost moved to reach out to her, but he was dealing with his own thoughts so intensely that it never even crossed his mind to comfort her.

After a moment, Lunafreya looked back at Noctis with eyes filled with grief so overpowering that Noctis himself was practically driven to his knees at the force.

“I believe…that one feather, either the half blackened or the fully blackened, represents Ignis and the other to represent your child. I fear…that with his kidnapping being the trigger to transform my dreams so drastically, my premonition as Oracle gave me a vision telling me that one or the other is destined to perish, while the other can only be saved by your actions alone.”

Before Noctis could comprehend what the Oracle had told him, the prince’s phone buzzed repeatedly the same as it had done when Lunafreya had called him the previous night.

Noctis slowly took out his phone and ignored all the shocked faces around him as he looked at the nametag of who was calling him.

The title was under Ignis Scientia.

Noctis couldn’t accept the call fast enough.

“Ignis!” Noctis breathed his name with both fear and wonder, but his breath hitched when a different voice began to laugh on the other end.

“Not quite, but a good guess my little prince!”

Noctis’ nerves were already shot from all he had gone through and he really did fall to his knees from the shock of hearing such a voice coming form Ignis’ phone.

“Who are you?”

“Ardyn’s the name. Ardyn Izunia, at your service.”

“Chancellor Izunia?” Noctis murmured.

“The very same! So glad that my reputation is known all the way over in Lucis.”

“How do you have Ignis’ phone?”

“This little thing? I found it all by itself off the side of a cliff and thought that it needed a new home with me, so I took it. I’m so glad that this phone already had your number programmed into it; makes the whole process much easier for me to contact you.”

“What have you done to him?” Noctis whispered.

“Nothing my dear boy. At least, not yet. My Ignis just arrived to me barely a few hours ago and we’ve yet to have the time to talk about the old times we’ve had together. He should be awakening soon though, so it won’t be too long until we can catch up.”

“What do you want with him?”

“Well, you see prince of Lucis. Ignis is, shall we say, a little project of mine that I’ve been excited to see the results of, and in just seven years he is already showing more progress than I ever thought possible when I first dropped him off on your doorstep. And it’s all thanks to you. Or, the final product is. I never expected that my Ignis would have gotten pregnant with the next heir of Lucis of all things, but prayers do get answered and I have so many questions that can now be answered because of you.”

“If you touch a hair on his body,” Noctis threatened, his body shivering to transform and hunt down Ardyn in the most primal way possible.

“I would never harm him! My test results are much too precious to do something as barbaric as that. This child though? Well, that needs a whole new level of research that I cannot guarantee anything on just yet.”

“I swear to all of the Six Astrals Ardyn Izunia that if Ignis is hurt—”

“Then come to me, prince Noctis,” Ardyn interrupted with a purr thick in his voice. “I would appreciate all parties present for this examination, and I’m sure your Ignis is dying to see you right about now.”

Ardyn hummed as if he was checking something.

“Ask dear Ravus to bring you to me, would you? I’m sure he’ll figure out where I’m located just in time for you to come join us. But for now, I must bid you farewell. It seems like the guest of honor is finally awake.”

“Wait—” Noctis gasped, but the line cut off before he could say anything more.

That call proved more than all the theorizing in the world ever could and Noctis was feeling queasy over what he had just heard.

There was no more denial to be had. Ignis was indeed an artificial omega.

And now Ardyn had him in his grasp.

Noctis tossed his phone aside and was instantly sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to keep the details pretty loose on the experiment part of things so that you guys can imagine the in betweens for yourself, along with give the bare bones for what you need to know to understand the rest of the story without going into explicit detail. That's for next chapter. So if fictional torture isn't your thing, feel free to skip the next update without missing too much. 
> 
> Next time: Ardyn finally has Ignis in his grasp and he thinks about their shared history and how everything managed to get to that point.


	15. Reveals of The Worst Kind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ardyn's backstory, his memories, and all the questions we've been skirting are finally answered. If you haven't figured them out already. 
> 
> As I've been saying in the last few notes, this chapter will have mentioned fantasy violence and a whole bunch of made up science for story purposes. I honestly thought that I'd get more detailed than I did, but once I really began writing Ardyn's memories he didn't strike me as the type of person to care for the gore of the work and was more focused on the results they brought in, so yay for me not being put on a watch list for questionable anatomy google searches? For this story at least.
> 
> Also! Please check out this amazing fan art created by sarabis3 over on tumblr. It's amazing and beautiful and everything I could have imagined as a dragon reference:
> 
> <https://wolfinwriterland.tumblr.com/post/176033131607/sarabis3-gladio-in-dragon-form-from> ">Gladio's Dragon Form

“Ask dear Ravus to bring you to me, would you? I’m sure he’ll figure out where I’m located just in time for you to come join us. But for now, I must bid you farewell. It seems like the guest of honor is finally awake.”

Ardyn clicked Ignis’ phone shut and gently placed it off to the side on a desk not covered entirely by medical supplies. He pet the phone in praise for a job well done and turned around to smile at Ignis’ bound naked form laid out on top of a metal table. 

Ignis’ green eyes were just as vibrant, and defiant, as Ardyn had remembered them.

He reached out to caress Ignis’ cheek, but the cloth that was wrapped around his head to gag his mouth got in the way of Ardyn being able to fully enjoy the supple skin, and Ignis turned his head away anyway, so Ardyn dropped his hand and instead trailed it down the omega’s neck in wonder.

The omega’s neck. His omega…

Ardyn couldn’t help the shiver that ran through his body at the thought that his omega actually survived all these years, and became such a perfect species no less, and had to bite his tongue to keep himself from giggling with glee.

Ignis’ eyes promised murder when Ardyn looked back into their depths, and Ardyn just smiled kindly at him in return.

“My dear boy,” Ardyn cooed and Ignis struggled against the ropes tying his hands and feet to the table, “look at how much you’ve grown.”

Ignis growled as much as he could with the gag in his mouth as Ardyn forcefully turned his head to inspect the scent glands he had implanted over seven years ago.

“Magnificent,” Ardyn whispered.

Ignis’ scent was coming so forcefully, so naturally, that Ardyn had to remind himself that he was not holding a born omega in his hands.

Ignis kept struggling and was making genuine progress in at least moving the table that Ardyn had to take a step away and grab a needle from another side table covered in them.

He looked back down at the omega that had gone still at the sight of the tool and Ardyn went back to lovingly touching Ignis’ face with his free hand.

“Now, now my dear boy. I need to give you a proper check up and see just how marvelously you’ve come along. But I need you to be still while I work, alright? So can you be still for me? Or do I have to give you a little something to make you quiet?”

The omega began struggling in earnest again and the metal table crashed against the wall enough times that Ardyn’s eyes narrowed in annoyance at the loud sound. 

Ardyn’s hand whipped out to tightly grasp the omega’s arm and quickly thrust the needle into the vein closest to his wrist that wasn’t covered by the rope keeping him in place.

The omega jolted, from shock Ardyn guessed as the needle he grabbed wasn’t large enough to cause actual pain, and turned his large green eyes onto Ardyn.

“I know you just woke up, but I said that I needled you still for my examination, so I’m putting you back to sleep until I’m done looking over your body.”

Ardyn leaned down to kiss the omega’s forehead as the boy’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier. 

“Now just rest and try to think about all the good times we’ve shared together.”

The omega’s eyes finally closed and his body relaxed into an artificial sleep. Ardyn hummed to himself and allowed his mind to wander a bit as he prepared to make the first cut along the omega’s chest.

**

When Ardyn was a child, his father had been hailed as a miracle worker of science for finding the secret of dragon class presentation. The Emperor of Niflheim had personally requested that the alpha Izunia be brought within their capital to work his miracle of transforming dragon classes so that each and every dragon of Niflheim could upgrade themselves into the alpha class in order to become the superior country in all of Eos.

Dragons from all of Niflheim came to experience the miracle of the alpha transformation and the country as a whole was abuzz with alpha fever.

The problem that his father soon faced, and that Ardyn had come to learn with age and his own understanding of medical science, was that his father was a liar.

His father was not able to alter a dragon’s class after they had presented; he had only created a drug to enhance their natural rage until the dragon exhibited all the strength and assertiveness that all Empire alphas were known for. 

The drug tampered with a dragon’s mind, their instincts, but allowed coherent thought for the first three months after it was administered. Once those three months were over, the drug shut down the humanity ingrained within the dragon’s brain and left them a killing machine that held the sole desire to destroy, to kill, and to fuck.

Niflheim’s capitol of Gralea quickly became a battleground of infected dragons all wanting to kill each other in an effort to claim a territory in the city. The roars of those infected shook the very earth from their intensity and the streets were littered with rotting severed wings, tails, mutilated bodies.

Those not infected either fled the country or hid underground and waited until all the fighting dragons killed each other off.

It took ten years for the last infected dragon to finally fall, and it was only due to Ardyn’s father being used as bait to lure them out to be taken down by those remaining.

With Ardyn’s father dead, the country down to barely a fourth of its past population, and the only people left alive being those who were naturally born alphas, Niflheim had no way of rebuilding itself.

A new emperor rose up to power once inventory was taken of the population, and he tasked a special force army with finding a solution to their problem. 

The newly appointed general decided on two plans of action once he was given free reign to take whatever course of action he saw fit. The first was that he would steal omegas from the other countries; force them to Gralea and make them repopulate their society to the goliath it once was. 

The second was that Ardyn, who was already chained as a prisoner of the country, would be forced to atone for his father’s sins and find a way to actually alter a dragon’s class to transform any dragon into an omega.

With the plans set, the country sprang into action with their kidnapping.

Dragons were take from across Eos, all ages, both genders, and were selected with special care to make sure that they wouldn’t be noticed as missing by the royalty of the other countries.

On Ardyn’s side, he had been studying his father’s work for the past two decades, both under his father’s eye and while he was held captive, so he had a fair plan of his own on how to genetically alter a presentation. However, he needed bodies to put his theories to the test.

He was given full access to the dragons who were taken, both omega born and not, and he got to work.

At first, Ardyn believed that the presentation was connected to a dragon’s heart. So he extracted the hearts of the omegas and transferred them into the bodies of stolen alpha soldiers from Accordo. 

All of those test subjects died a few hours after the new hearts were reversed, some not even making it through the operation, and that hypothesis was scrapped after half a year’s worth of failures.

The next, Ardyn wondered if presentations could possibly be connected to the brain’s functions and a body could be tricked into changing class. Ardyn worked from lobotomies to full on extractions, but like the hearts, no amount of experimentation was getting him anywhere. 

Failure after failure. Ardyn was growing tired of being locked within his labs with nothing to show the emperor he was worth his freedom besides an ever-growing ditch of bodies in a closet.

The years continued on, Ardyn had overheard one of his guards saying that a new war was going on after a captured omega had escaped to Lucis, and yet Ardyn still had not gotten any closer to his goal.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the war just outside his prison was around the corner, and Ardyn finally believed that he had reached the breakthrough he needed to make his experiments work.

Instead of dealing with the human, Ardyn needed to alter the dragon.

Ardyn now looked onto the younger children he was given to test. He forced them into their dragon forms, carved out their scent glands from their necks and arms and inserted them into another. He took the wombs and mammary glands from the older omegas and surgically implanted them into his test subjects.

Some didn’t survive the surgeries, and others went insane from the testing, but those experiments were the closest Ardyn had ever gotten to creating an omega.

It wasn’t foolproof, nor was it a creation from nothing, but so long as one omega existed and one dragon could survive the transformation, Ardyn was certain he had found the key. And to think it was as simple as a few surgeries when Ardyn had began with heart transplants.

But by the time Ardyn was confident enough to show his results to the emperor, the war had ended and Niflheim was on the losing side again.

Lucis’ new King was at the helm of reforming their country into his vision of peace, and the people of the Empire did appear to show their support once the fighting had ended, but all of Ardyn’s work needed to be destroyed.

His lab was set aflame, his experiments terminated, and Ardyn fled his role as scientist and reinvented himself into becoming a victim of the past emperor who had been used as well.

After the war, Ardyn learned that all the major figureheads of Niflheim were taken down and there was no one to remember that he was the mastermind behind all the experimentations. Ardyn played his part of the unsuspecting victim to perfection, until he was deemed safe to set loose, and for the first time in over thirty years Ardyn was finally free to leave his lab.

But Ardyn was furious. How dare they destroy his work? And right when he was on the brink of a breakthrough?! 

Freedom may have been what he desired as a child, but now, what was freedom compared to the scientific discovery of a lifetime? In the history of their history?

Ardyn had spent his entire life trying to create the perfect omega, and he was not going to stop until he was able to.

But, Niflheim was still under watch from Lucis, so Ardyn had to wait his turn.

He played his part of Chancellor perfectly; going from country to country to convince each royal that their Emperor was a new person and entirely willing to comply with their notions of peace after all the horrific displays they had gone through.

It took an agonizing six full years before Ardyn was able to find his perfect specimen.

In his travels, Ardyn had learned that Tenebrae had extracted itself from Niflheim’s rule and became their own country. Ardyn was in the middle of his ‘peace’ tour and Tenebrae was to be his final stop, but while he was conversing with the young King to be, he saw him.

A young dragon with ash blond hair and the brightest green eyes Ardyn had ever seen was helping the Oracle sister herd in a group of children out of the yard and into the castle. The child exuded a calming presence, no doubt fated into becoming a perfect beta with his lean form and taller bone structure, and yet the way he spoke to the other children was full of a kindness that showcased a caring nature underneath the charm and collection of a beta.

The child happened to turn his large eyes up right as Ardyn was looking at him and Ardyn knew that he had to have him.

Ardyn finished the week in Tenebrae, well overstaying the welcome he was shown back when he was only supposed to be in the city for a few hours, and he used the extra time to observe the little dragon in all his glory.

He found that the child’s name was Ignis. An orphan in the wake of the thirty-year war that was taken in by the royal family as their own. His dragon form was growing to be on the larger side, with a pale blond coloring to match his hair and a green underbelly that reflected the green of his eyes down to the reflection of his scales.

It took a while, but Ardyn was finally able to steal a few minutes of Ignis’ attention away from the royals and plucked him like a flower out of the garden’s in the dead of night.

Ignis was the perfect specimen.

His green eyes showed enough defiance in their depths that Ardyn knew the child’s spirit would not fall to the pains of experimentation, and his body was at the perfect age where he hadn’t grown into his class and was still susceptible to whatever alterations Ardyn had planned for him.

The only thing wrong was that Ignis’ body was growing to be too tall for the organs Ardyn still had from his days as a scientist, so Ardyn had to work on fixing that before anything else could be done.

The solution was simple: keep Ignis in his dragon form locked inside a small cage.

The iron bars were strong enough to press down on Ignis’ bone structure and constrict them from growing any larger than they were. As the years passed, Ignis’ dragon was turning out to be just as small as what a natural omega’s body should have been, and Ardyn was finally ready to implant the new organs into his body.

With all the practice Ardyn had had over thirty years, his incisions were precise and clean. From afar, and even up-close to an extent, no one would be able to see the small cuts on Ignis’ neck and wrists, and Ardyn was happy that he could keep as much of Ignis’ natural beauty as unmarked as possible where people could see.

His torso however, was unavoidable. Ardyn managed to keep the scarring to his chest at a minimum with the insertion of the mammary glands, but the area of the womb was a necessary mess. 

The stitching necessary to close all the cuts were not pretty, and Ardyn almost lost the child to blood loss after the womb had been implanted, but once the skin healed Ardyn was able to overlook the flaws in his technique for the results they gave.

It took seven years to perfect Ignis into the ideal artificial omega, but all that time was well worth the effort. Ignis was beautiful. His dragon was the perfect compact size of an omega, give or take the flimsy useless state of his wings, and his blond coloring had even lightened with the trauma into a pale reflective silver that Ardyn had never seen on a dragon before.

And Ardyn was positively shocked into euphoria when Ignis even released his omega pheromones into the air, marking him as a true omega more complete than any Ardyn had been able to create before. 

The only thing that remained was for Ignis to present and fully showcase the fruits of Ardyn’s labor.

But at fifteen, Ignis was not anywhere close to reaching the final results yet, and Ardyn was toeing the remains of his innocence by keeping him in his possession for much longer. So what could Ardyn do with him until the day Ignis was ready to present?

Ardyn was expected to be visiting Lucis within the next month. Perhaps he could release Ignis somewhere in that country? But he needed to be somewhere Ardyn could be sure he was safe. 

And where would be safer than in the hands of the royal family?

But Ignis could not be allowed to tell anyone of the experiments done to him. So Ardyn prepared a custom drug to make sure that Ignis would lose his memories of his time under Ardyn’s care, what little remained as the trauma did more than just change his scale coloring to Ardyn’s embarrassment, and planned their trip to Lucis.

Ardyn completed his meeting with the Lucian King as expected, and staged his leaving the country so as to throw off any lingering suspicion of his whereabouts. A few days later, he walked Ignis to the Citadel steps underneath a cloak large enough to hide both of their features from the public view. Ardyn waited until the crowd disappeared and they were given a few precious minutes alone and stabbed the needle carrying his created drug into Ignis’ neck.

Ardyn opened the cloak to allow Ignis to fall unconscious on the steps, memorized every bruise, cut, and scar that covered Ignis’ body, and turned around to hide behind a corner to wait for Ignis to be found.

A scream, a call for help, the sounds of feet of a crowd gathering to look on at the spectacle, and Ardyn was finally able to walk away once he heard the voice of someone ordering the King to be brought in.

Ardyn couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he imagined the day when he would see his perfect experiment again.

**

Ardyn laughed and shook his head at the sudden surge of memories of years past. His hands trembled at the excitement he felt at finally being able to reap the rewards of his waiting, until a thought hit him.

He’s already waited this long for his experiment to return to him, what was a little longer when he could personally thank the other half of the study for helping Ardyn with his research?

Ardyn placed down his scalpel and pat Ignis’ cheek again just to be able to touch him and feel how real this moment was after so many years of dreaming.

Ardyn would wait for Noctis to show up, he would thank that prince for all he had done to help create the results that were in front of him, then Ardyn would take Noctis and keep him as a helper to his study so that Ardyn would be able to have all the research material he could ever need.

With another hum, Ardyn pushed aside Ignis’ hair from his forehead before he took a step away and decided to prepare the laboratory for his next guest’s arrival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I gotta ask, how many people already imagined all this happening from the details in previous chapters? I don't think that this chapter was so much a reveal as a detailed explanation of what we already knew, which I'm a little conflicted about because I've never been able to write a mystery to save my life, but oh well. 
> 
> The next chapter will be the big climax, the fight to end it all and bring the main plot to a close. After that, it'll be an epilogue that will tie up any loose ends that have not been covered, so if anyone still has a question please feel free to ask about it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer it in the last two chapters. I'll be out of town for all of next week, and I hope to have this story finished before I post the next chapter, so it'll probably be about a two week wait until I post again.
> 
> (As of right now, I'm also taking commissions for short stories since I'll need something to do while I'm away, so if you'd like to commission a custom fanfic with a prompt of your choosing, please take a look at my tumblr <https://wolfinwriterland.tumblr.com/post/176322029202/writing-commissions> ">Wolf(In)Writerland for more details about that. I'll edit this note out once I come back, so commissions will be open until Saturday 8/4)
> 
> Next Time: Ignis has had enough of running away and takes a stand against Ardyn with Noctis at his side. Luna's vision is tested, and the Oracle has never been wrong before. The fate of two feathers is on the line; just how many will come out in the end once this is all done.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to try and make this a weekly update thing, but procrastination and I go way back and I'll probably be relying on people kicking me in the butt to move. So, please leave a comment telling me what you think as I treat those like lifewater. 
> 
> My tumblr: Wolf(In)WriterLand  
>    
> Also! Please check out this amazing fan art created by sarabis3 over on tumblr. It's amazing and beautiful and everything I could have imagined as a dragon reference:
> 
> Gladio's Dragon Form


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